Secrets of the Sand
by Luxenne
Summary: On the eve of the Third Great Shinobi War, Minato Namikaze is sent to destroy Sunagakure's secret underground laboratory. With Rin in tow, Minato quickly makes a harrowing discovery that forces him to confront the demons he had long been content to ignore.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** **Naruto and all related characters, descriptions and events are the exclusive property of Masashi Kishimoto and Studio Pierrot.**

 **This fic is set about a year before the beginning of the Third Great Shinobi War. Mina/Tsuna and Mina/Kushi.**

 **Reviews are greatly appreciated.**

 **Chapter One**

He sat on the edge of a tree branch high above the training ground, sky blue eyes fixed on the clouds of dust rising around four sparring figures. A smile tugged at his lips when he observed the fluid movements of Rin and Obito's tandem attacks. Although they were barely managing to keep up with his shadow clone, their marked improvement made his chest swell with pride. His brow creased when he sensed a familiar chakra signature suddenly appear behind him. The high-pitched squeal of lightening filled the space between them as the blond barely managed to deflect his student's attack with a lightening-laced kunai of his own.

"Is something wrong sensei?" Kakashi asked calmly, steely-grey eyes studying his blond-haired sensei as he dispelled his shadow clone below.

"Well done you guys." Minato said ignoring Kakashi's question as he descended from the tree.

"Oi! Kakashi!" Obito roared angrily pointing at his teammate. "What do you think you're playing at attacking sensei's real body when we're supposed to be sparring with his clone?!"

"A shinobi should never let his guard down." Kakashi stated matter-of-factly. "Or underestimate his opponent."

"Nani?!" Obito's cried out. "What does that have to do with anything?!"

"Surely you must have noticed how uncoordinated sensei's shadow clone was just now." Kakashi cast an accusing glance at his sensei who chuckled sheepishly in response.

"I did." Rin admitted quietly. "But I thought he was just holding back so that we would have a fighting chance."

"Maybe for y—" Minato cleared his throat loudly, pointedly interrupting Kakashi's remark.

"That should do it for today." Minato declared turning to gaze at the setting sun. "Obito's grandma asked me to get him home before sundown so we'd better get going don't you think."

"Ah!" Obito cried out suddenly taken aback. "She's going to kill me if I'm late for curfew!"

"Don't worry, Obito." Rin said giving her teammate a reassuring smile. "I'm sure sensei will help explain the situation to her."

"Would you, sensei?" Obito asked hopefully. Minato gave him an encouraging nod. "Wohoo! Come on Rin, let's race to my house!"

"I didn't think it was possible but they've both regressed." Kakashi stated bluntly. When Minato turned to face him, he narrowed his eyes before adding, "significantly. Rin particularly."

"I know." Minato said with a discouraged sigh. "I'm sorry today's training wasn't helpful for you—"

"You're too easy on them, sensei." Kakashi scolded. "War is coming and we can't afford to have any weak links when we're called on."

"I wouldn't go so far as to call Rin a weak link, Kakashi!" Minato shot back. "While she might not be physically strong like you and Obito, she's as perceptive and intelligent as you."

"What good are intellect and perception when you freeze-up in battle?" Kakashi countered.

"Fighting isn't the only thing shinobi are good for you know?" Minato replied.

"True," Kakashi agreed. "But it's a huge part of what we do. You can't protect them from this reality forever. Sooner or later, they'll have to fend for themselves, sensei."

"They might not be prodigies like you but they are strong in other ways." Minato sighed as he bent to retrieve the discarded weapons from the floor before returning them to the appropriate weapons pouch.

"None of which really count." Kakashi remarked bluntly. "You're coming up on the S-rank mission rotation aren't you?"

"As perceptive as ever Kakashi-kun." Minato chuckled as he finally straightened up. He pulled out a small storage scroll from his front flak jacket pocket and unfurled it with a swish of his left hand, weaving a hand seal with his right. He carefully placed the training tools and weapons pouches at the center of the scroll before weaving a hand seal. The training equipment disappeared with a faint cloud as Minato retrieved the scroll before returning it to his pocket.

"We're running out of time sensei." Kakashi observed. "Our training sessions should be progressing, not stagnating."

"I know." Minato replied with a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, it's just that…I've been distracted."

"Is it Kushina-san?" Kakashi asked. Minato shook his head before holding out his left palm. "Your jutsu?" Minato nodded. Kakashi's grey eyes widened when a sudden spiral of blue chakra materialized in his sensei's outstretched palm. A low hum emitted from the spinning threads of chakra as they grew large enough to fit his palm. Minato turned and plunged his chakra-laden palm into a nearby tree shattering its trunk and splitting it in half. Kakashi watched in awe as the tree snapped forward, falling with a deafening crash that echoed in the training ground around them.

The silver-haired prodigy didn't realize that the hairs on the back of his neck were erect until his sensei turned and gave him a sheepish smile.

"What are you going to call it?" Kakashi wondered quietly.

"I'm not sure." Minato admitted. "But I think Dancing Spiral Nimbus Ball has a nice ring to it."

"It most certainly does not, you know." Kushina Uzumaki said by way of greeting as she appeared before them.

"Ah, Kushina. When did you get back?" Minato wondered as he turned towards her.

"About an hour ago." She replied cheerfully turning to inspect the spiral-shaped splinter from the fallen tree. "We just got done debriefing Sandaime-sama, you know."

"Welcome back Kushina-san." Kakashi greeted as he prepared to take his leave. "I'll be off now, sensei."

"Ah." Minato replied distractedly as he observed the deep crease of the redhead's eyebrows as she surveyed his jutsu's damage. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air around them as Minato struggled to find something to fill in the void. Rin and Obito would normally have relieved him of this duty effortlessly, but Kakashi was content with awkward silences if it meant not having to endure small talk. "Same time tomorrow then Kakashi-kun." The silver-haired shinobi disappeared with a noncommittal grunt leaving the blond alone with the redhead.

It had been ages since they had been alone together and Minato wracked his brain for something meaningful to say. "I missed you." Kushina stated bluntly as she finally straightened up. He froze as she turned and flashed him an apologetic smile.

"Kushi—"

"Show me." She said abruptly pointing towards his left palm. "I couldn't see the hand seals you used from afar."

"I didn't use any hand seals." Minato replied with a confused blink as he channeled a pulse of chakra to his left palm once more prompting the spinning blue threads to materialize once again. He glanced up to watch the redhead's reaction and instantly wished that he hadn't. Her violet eyes crinkled into a warm smile as they watched the spinning threads of chakra in his palm.

"I see." The world around him fell away as the butterflies in his stomach only intensified. No matter how many times he saw it, Kushina's beauty always took his breath away. "That jutsu looks almost _exactly_ like a tailed beast ball." Minato felt a stab of guilt as she reflexively tugged at her place above her navel where the seal binding the kyuubi's soul to hers lay invisible.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to—I only thought that—"

"I don't care. I was just saying, you know." Kushina chuckled rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Walk me home?"

"Crap! That reminds me, Obito!" Minato cried out as he prepared to teleport towards the seal he had marked his student with. "I'll be right back, I need to take care of something first."

"Meet me at Ichiraku's!" She called out as he vanished in a blur of yellow.

* * *

"What the hell sensei?!" Obito cried out beside himself as Minato materialized on his windowsill. "Where were you?!"

"Am I too late then?" Minato wondered with an apologetic tilt of his head.

"Grandma grounded me for missing curfew." Obito whined. "I tried to explain things to her but she wasn't having it, and Kakashi well don't even get me started on Kakashi! That bastard only made things worse! Tripping me up and holding me down while she chased me around the house."

"It's alright." Minato chuckled as he moved towards the front door. "I'll go explain things to her."

"You better sensei!" Minato turned to shush his student with a finger to his lips as the occupants of the surrounding homes began to stir.

"Minato?" The lanky blond turned to find a slender fair-skinned woman with flowing onyx locks watching him from across the street.

"Mikoto-san." Minato greeted with a bow. "Sorry I didn't see you there."

"It's alright. Could you just have him keep it down a little?" As she spoke Minato noticed the groggy two-year old draped across her shoulder. "Itachi-kun is trying to sleep."

"Gomen, gomen." Minato said with an apologetic bow as he slowly backed away from his friend as she prepared to leave.

"That reminds me," Mikoto said turning to face him once more. "I heard Kushina's back in town." Minato froze as his gaze fell to his feet. "Have you seen her?"

"I'm meeting her soon at Ichiraku's." He replied with a nod.

"I'm so glad." Mikoto said, relief evident in her delicate features. "I hope you two work it out. You both seem so happy together."

"Leave him be, Mikoto." Fugaku Uchiha said emerging from the shadows with a bright green dinosaur plushy. He promptly extended his hand, offering the toy to his son with a hopeful look.

"Good evening Fugaku-senpai." Minato greeted with a bow. Fugaku reached out to stroke his son's cheek adoringly as he offered Minato a small nod of acknowledgment. Itachi received the toy and examined it briefly before tossing it aside with an annoyed grunt.

"Don't Fugaku." Mikoto sighed as she watched her husband disappear down an alley to retrieve the discarded toy. "I don't know why you keep offering it to him. He doesn't want it."

"He's just playing with me." Fugaku replied an uncharacteristic tenderness softening his typically stoic tone. "Right Itachi-kun?"

"When are you heading out?" Mikoto wondered turning to address Minato. Minato didn't realize that he had been smiling as he watched the doting clan lord offer the toy once more until Mikoto turned to face him.

"I'm not sure." Minato replied. "But soon I expect. My name should be coming up on the rotation pretty quickly."

"Hmm, Morino's group departed last week and I think they were the last of the M's." Mikoto offered with a contemplative frown. At that moment, the toddler in her arms began to fuss drawing her attention towards him once more. "Gomen, I think Itachi-kun is ready for some dinner. Speaking of which you should stop by some time whenever you return."

"Will do." Minato said with a wave as his friend turned to tend to her restless son, cooing softly as she started towards their home. Behind them, Fugaku paused to dust off the green toy once more before turning to follow his wife.

"Oh, sensei!" Obito's called from his bedroom window with a singsong tone. "Are you forgetting something?"

"Right. Coming."

* * *

"What the hell Namikaze? I've been waiting for ages, you know." Kushina scolded as the blond ducked beneath the small curtains of the ramen shop.

"Now you know how I felt." Minato teased as he settled down unto the stool she had reserved for him. As he turned to examine the menu, he noticed her knuckles clench into a tight fist from the corner of his eye and turned to face her.

"I said I was sorry, you know." Minato didn't miss the guilty crease of her forehead as she shifted uncomfortably.

"Relax." Minato said giving her a jovial shove. "I was just teasing. Besides you can make it up to me by letting me cook you dinner sometime."

"Seriously, Namikaze?" Kushina said recoiling in mock horror as the blond threw back his head in laughter. "Are you trying to kill me or something? I thought we were supposed to be friends."

"Just friends?" Minato asked arching an eyebrow as he watched her hopefully. Before she could respond, Teuchi appeared at the counter to take their order. "Just friends?" He repeated once the ramen cook disappeared with their orders.

"Did you have something else in mind?" Kushina asked coyly batting her lashes as she traced two fingers up his sleeve before squeezing his bicep suggestively.

"Don't." Minato said quietly turning away.

"Why not?" Kushina whined. "I wasn't kidding when I said that I missed you." When he didn't say anything the redhead leaned forward, brushing her lips against his earlobe as she rested her palm against his knee. "I would have you right here and now if you wouldn't die of shame."

"What are we?" Minato asked abruptly turning to face her. "Honestly."

"What would you like us to be?" Kushina countered with a coy giggle.

"You know exactly what I want." Minato replied calmly meeting her gaze. Kushina clapped her hands and turned towards Ichiraku.

"Can we get it to go please Teuchi-san?"

"Hai!" The cook replied without turning around. Kushina turned and gave him a meaningful smile as she leaned in for a kiss.

"It's a simple question Kushina." Minato said denying her with a last-minute jerk of his head in the opposite direction. "And I want a serious answer. I think I'm entitled to one."

"You're going to make me beg for it, aren't you?" Kushina said with a dejected sigh. "I wouldn't have it any other way, you know!" The abrupt change in her tone stunned Minato Namikaze into silence as he watched her hop off her stool and duck out of the ramen stand. He turned to call out for her but stopped when he noticed Kushina hugging a startled-looking Rin.

"Oh, are you leaving already?" Rin asked once Kushina released her.

"I have to get home, ya know." Kushina replied with a wink. "Pervy-sage! What brings you out here?"

"I heard you were back and figured you would drag Minato out here." Jiraiya replied. Although his tone was respectful, Minato didn't miss the disapproving look in his sensei's eyes as he turned from Kushina.

"Is everything alright sensei?" Minato wondered as the tall sannin walked around Kushina.

"Sandaime-sama asked me to fetch you." The toad sage replied.

"Right, I'm on my way." Minato clapped his hands together as he prepared to weave the hand seal of his teleportation jutsu. Jiraiya's large palm closed down on his fingers interrupting their movements.

"It's a nice night out." The white-haired sannin observed with a jovial smile. "Walk with me."

"Hai." Minato said before turning to address Rin. "We'll talk later, alright?" When his student nodded, he ruffled her hair affectionately before turning to follow his sensei.

For the first time since his genin days, Minato was grateful for the silence that filled the space between them as they walked down the moonlit streets of downtown Konoha. Although he could sense his sensei slowly working up the courage to scold him, Minato was content to listen to the discordant chorus of the distant crickets as they approached the Hokage Manor. As the manor drew closer and closer, Minato's attention was inevitably drawn to the stone image of the second Hokage.

"Did I tell you that I've been studying Nidaime-sama's tracking jutsu—you know the one that allows you to detect a person's clan simply by sensing their chakra signature."

"Did she give you a good enough reason to take her back, Minato?" Jiraiya asked in a low voice. "Or are you just a glutton for punishment?"

"You should talk, sensei." Minato teased. "You've been chasing the same woman's heart for over twenty years without any progress."

"That's different and you know it." Jiraiya snapped turning to face his student. "Nothing I can offer could ever fill the void he left in her heart. At least I know what's stopping her. What's Kushina's excuse?"

"I don't know." Minato replied with a shrug. "I think she just felt suffocated. We're only kids. Marriage isn't something anyone should enter int—"

"Don't!' Jiraiya said interrupting his student. "You're better than this. I know you are. You can't expect me to sit idly by while my student repeats the mistakes of my youth."

"I understand,sensei." Minato said turning to continue down the path to the manor. Jiraiya opened and closed his mouth as if to say something but decided against it as he turned to follow his student.

* * *

Orochimaru's arm was draped around the back of the Sandaime's sofa, golden eyes narrowed in concentration as they studied the scroll on his lap. When Jiraiya and Minato walked into the room, his gaze shifted from his jovial teammate to his prodigious protégé. The pair greeted the Sandaime with a bow as the elderly kage looked up from his pipe.

"Ah, you found him." The Sandaime said with a grateful nod at his former student as he turned to join Orochimaru on the sofa. The Hokage plucked the scroll from Orochimaru's lap before holding it out for Minato to see the "S" emblazoned on its cover.

"You must be thrilled seeing your wife again after five months." Orochimaru remarked with a silky chuckle. "How unfortunate having to leave so soon after her return."

"Uzumaki-san and I are not married." Minato corrected tersely. He stilled his anger at the sound of the Snake Sannin's mocking chuckle.

"Dodged a kunai there, if you ask me."

"No one asked you Orochimaru!" Jiraiya snapped turning on his teammate. Minato turned and gave his sensei a grateful smile before returning his attention to the Hokage.

"That's enough you two." Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a weary sigh. Minato felt a twinge of sympathy as he remembered how often he had to step between his two squabbling students. "I have a mission that requires your urgent attention. You would have to leave first thing in the morning."

Minato accepted the scroll from the Sandaime and read its contents before stowing it in his flak jacket pocket.

"As you've already guessed, it is imperative that no one discovers Konoha's involvement in this affair." Sarutobi warned with a sad frown. "Tensions with Sunagakure are high enough as it is—an international incident is the last thing we need."

"Understood." Minato turned to leave but remembered something and stopped in his tracks. "Oh, there is one more thing, Sandaime-sama."

* * *

Minato poked his head out of his bathroom at the faint but unmistakable sound of knocking. With bathed breath, he strained his senses as he tried to determine who could be visiting him at this hour.

"It's me sensei." Rin's muffled voice called from the other side of the door. Minato crossed his living room and unlocked his front door, stepping aside to let the petite brunette in.

"Kushina-senpai asked me to bring these over." Rin said holding up a plastic bag of steaming noodles from Ichiraku's. Minato accepted the package from her with a grateful bow, frowning to himself when he noticed Kushina's order beneath his.

"What happened to your hair, sensei?" Rin asked pointing. His once-spiky blond locks had been tamed into a slick side part held back in a low ponytail.

"Oh, er I'm working on my disguise." Minato replied beckoning for her to follow him as he returned to the bathroom. Rin gasped as she took in the various bottles and cans of gels and dyes strewn across his bathroom counter.

"What do you need a disguise for?" Rin wondered.

"My mission." Minato replied distractedly as he returned to grinding a pinkish powder with a tiny ceramic pestle.

"I see." Rin replied dejectedly. "Does that mean no training until you return?"

"Nope." Minato was pouring water into the mortar now. "Jiraiya-sensei has offered to train the boys while I'm gone."

"Oh," Rin shuffled awkwardly behind him. "What about me?" She wondered.

"You're coming with me." Minato paused and turned to give her a warm smile. "Unless you'd rather stay behind to train with the others." Rin's eyes lit up as she leapt forward, enveloping her sensei's waist with a suffocating hug.

"Thank you, thank you. Thank you, sensei!" Rin squealed breathlessly jumping up and down as she released him. Smiling to himself, Minato pointed towards his dining chair where his flak jacket hung.

"There's a scroll in the right breast pocket I want you to study." Rin rushed to retrieve the scroll he had described. "Can you read my handwriting?" She squinted down at her mentor's untidy scrawl and nodded after some time.

"I can manage." She replied. "Sensei, what kind of mission are we going on?"

"Before I tell you anything I need to know that you'll be able to handle it first." Just then, there was a sudden knock on his door. Minato set the mortar down as he moved to unlock the front door. "I need you to learn that seal by tomorrow morning."

"Aye aye captain!" Rin replied with an excited salute. "Oh, hello Kushina-senpai." Minato froze when he realized who was standing on the other side of the door.

"Thanks for dropping that off for me, Rin-chan." Kushina said ruffling the girl's head affectionately as she invited herself inside Minato's apartment.

"You can't stay." Minato said hastily shutting the door behind her as he crossed the room to retrieve her bowl of ramen. "I have to be up first thing tomorrow morning and I still have a lot of packing to do."

"What on earth did you do to your hair?" She asked ignoring her food as she tugged at his hair.

"I need a disguise for my mission." He replied with a huff as he returned to the bathroom. "But I can't think of anything."

"Can't you just use a transformation jutsu?" Kushina wondered with a bemused chuckle.

"I can't risk someone seeing through my disguise." Minato replied. "Besides the transformation jutsu requires chakra and concentration to maintain it and I'm not sure how long I'll need the disguise."

"Here, let me." Kushina said pushing past him. She studied the cans and jars on his counter before snapping her fingers. She opened a cabinet to retrieve something before ushering him towards the dining table where she coaxed him into a waiting chair.

"What are you doing?"

"Have you ever considered dying your hair?" Kushina asked running a hand through his soft blond locks.

"I did but I couldn't decide on a color." Minato shrugged.

"I know just the thing." Kushina said lowering her head to give him a mischievous wink before returning to her work. The soothing sensation of her slender fingers combing and massaging his scalp lulled Minato into a light snooze. By the time he awoke, Kushina was sitting on the chair opposite him slurping down her bowl of ramen. As she got up to wash the plates in the sink she noticed him yawning and gave him an admiring smile.

"Go look." She said nodding towards the bathroom. Minato groggily ambled towards the bathroom, pausing to flip the switch before turning to inspect his reflection. His light blue eyes widened as they took in the shock of orange spikes framing his features. Although his hair color was the only discernible change in his appearance, the effect was striking.

"Thank you." Minato said when he noticed Kushina's reflection leaning against the doorframe. He turned to give her a grateful smile but she closed the distance between them, dragging his head down until his lips met her heated mouth. Against his better judgment, Minato reached around and pulled her until her body was flush against his taut torso.

The red-haired jinchuriki pushed him back against the bathroom counter, slipping a knee between his thighs which she rubbed against the tent in his pants. Minato's lips released hers as he threw his head back with a low growl of pleasure. Her knee continued its gentle ministrations drawing out pained grunts and moans as the blue-eyed jounin gripped the bathroom counter for dear life.

"Kushi please." Minato ground out with a breathless shiver as his member strained against the restrictive fabric of his trousers.

"It's not fun, is it?" Kushina taunted leaning forward as she pressed her palm against his clothed sex. He reached down to push her hand away but she smacked his arm away before pinning it down forcefully with one arm. Minato twisted around until he was facing the mirror, his back towards her as he struggled to catch his breath and regain his composure.

"I want more Kushi." He said not daring to even meet her reflection's gaze. "I want you to belong to me. I'm sick of playing this game with you. If you won't mar—" It took Minato several moments to realize that the shameless grunts of pleasure were coming from him as Kushina slipped one small hand down the waistband of his pants. Her soft calloused fingers deftly freed his member from the restrictive fabric of his underwear, enveloping his throbbing need with her heated palm.

Minato's knees buckled as he watched his reflection's flushed features contort with pleasure as his lover's hand merciless ripped the last shreds of his dignity. The knot in his stomach exploded painfully as he succumbed to the throes of passion, falling forward as the room around him spun out of focus. He watched with lust-laden eyes as Kushina extricated her hand from his soiled pants, reaching around him to wash away the remnants of his seed that clung to her skin.

A seductive smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she watched the trembling jounin hoist himself up. She reached out and guided him away from the counter, ignoring his feeble protests as she led him towards his bedroom. Pinning his hands high above his head, the hot-tempered jinchuriki spread her legs as she straddled him on the bed. She slipped her hand beneath his shirt, relishing the restless growl he emitted as her palm slid down his taut abs.

"Please." The jinchuriki leaned down to capture his lips with hers, ripping his shirt open as her hands reached for his stiffening member. She loosened her kimono-like blouse, tossing it to the side as she freed his throbbing need. Parting his thighs with one hand, she guided herself down until she engulfed him. Minato threw back his head as he adjusted to the familiar tightness of her walls clenching greedily around him. His hands wrapped around her hips as his began to thrust wildly drawing out loud wanton gasps from the blushing redhead.

Planting her hands on either side of him, Kushina slowed the rhythm of her hips to a torturous grind, relishing the pained edge in her lover's voice as he cried out for her. When his hands tried to dictate the thrust of her hips, she wrest them away and guided them to the swell of her bouncing bosom. His long fingers closed around the erect buds of her nipples while his calloused palms kneaded her generous mounds. She abruptly picked up the rhythm of her thrusts, enjoying the harsh smacking sound of her buttocks against his muscular thighs.

Minato twisted beneath her, throwing her unto her back as he mounted her. Ripping away her mesh under armor with his left hand, Minato leaned forward to claim an exposed breast with his mouth. Noisily sucking the delicate flesh as his newly-freed hand continued kneading her other mound. Minato guided himself into her, lifting her leg up until it fell on his shoulder. He leaned down against her, pounding harshly into her overflowing sex as she screamed and pulled at his newly-dyed hair. Her legs wrapped around his thrusting waist as she neared her inevitable climax. A euphoric tingle washed over her trembling form as he urged her over the edge. He collapsed into a panting mess as he emptied himself inside her. Kushina turned to watch as he buried his face into his pillow with an exhausted growl. A small smirk lined her lips as she watched him turn away from her with a bitter sigh.

"Do you want me to go?" She asked softly rubbing a soothing circle along his spine.

"Do whatever you want." Minato said reaching up to stifle a sudden yawn. Kushina sat up and leaned her weight against him as she reached for her discarded clothes on the floor. His large hand stopped her as she pulled her blouse towards her. Their eyes met and Kushina felt a twinge of guilt at the hurt reflected in his sky blue eyes. "So you _do_ want to leave?" He asked mildly incredulous.

"I have to get back to my own bed." She replied with a nonchalant shrug as she freed her wrist from his grasp. Minato retracted his hand as he watched her gather the rest of her clothes.

"What's wrong with sharing mine?" He asked as she rose from the bed and began to get dressed.

"Nothing. Just a little crowded, you know." The redhead replied with a coy wink.

"I see." Kushina froze at the bitter tone of his voice and turned to face him. He was lying on his stomach, face buried beneath a soft white pillow as the rumpled sheets clung to his sweat-soaked skin.

"Don't tell me you're sulking." She teased leaning on his shoulder as she tried to coax the pillow out of his hands. His grip around the pillow tightened the harder she pulled until she finally gave up.

"I don't think we should be friends anymore." Minato declared as she prepared to leave. She opened and closed her mouth several times to say something but guilt weighed her tongue down. Deciding that it was for the best, Kushina turned and disappeared into the night for what Minato hoped would be the last time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Please remember to read and review. A few lines go a long way.**

 **Chapter Two**

Minato could count on one hand the number of times Rin Nohara had been late. As he shifted his gaze towards the brightening horizon once more, he wondered if he had given her the wrong rendezvous location.

"What are you still doing here, sensei?" Kakashi wondered as he and Jiraiya spotted him sitting cross-legged on a fallen tree's stump.

"Waiting on Rin." Minato replied.

"You're taking her along?" Kakashi asked clearly taken aback. Minato nodded.

"Obito running late again?" He asked with a knowing smile. Kakashi's eyes narrowed in response.

"You remind me a lot of someone I once knew." The Toad Hermit mused with a contemplative frown.

"Oh?" Minato sighed arching an eyebrow slightly in response.

"Why didn't you just use a transformation jutsu, sensei?" Kakashi wondered tilting his masked head slightly as he studied his sensei's newly dyed hair.

"Less chakra-consuming," Minato replied tersely as he was reminded of Kushina's inquiry the night before. "Headed towards the training grounds for your first sparring match?"He asked turning to give Kakashi a small smile.

"No. We've just received a D-Rank mission." Kakashi replied with an annoyed frown.

"You received the mission without Obito?" Minato wondered slightly taken aback.

"We decided that it was quicker to just fetch him from his house and debrief him along the way." Kakashi explained as his frown deepened. "I'm not getting stuck cleaning gutters four weeks in a row because that loudmouth can't read a watch properly."

"Kakashi, we've been over this—gutter duty is rotated equally among the rookie Chunin." Minato explained with a weary sigh. "No matter how early or late you are to the mission room, you'll eventually get gutter duty if your name comes up on the rotation."

"And yet somehow we always get stuck with it every. Single. Week." Kakashi grumbled beneath his breath. "Sensei?"

"Yes, Kashi-kun?"

"Rin's late."The silver-haired prodigy noted as if he had just noticed this for the first time.

"I noticed Kashi-kun, thank you." Minato replied with an amused chuckle.

"You have to leave soon right?" Kakashi pressed on. Minato nodded with a patient sigh. "Do you think something happened to her? Do you want me to go fetch her?"

"Thanks for the offer Kashi. But that won't be necessary." As he spoke the others turned in time to see two familiar figures approaching them.

"Sensei, I'm so sorry I'm late." Rin said pressing her palms together with a flustered smile as she jogged to join the group. "Oh, Kakashi, Jiraiya-sama are you both coming?" Minato couldn't help but notice the hopeful look in her eyes as she watched Kakashi expectantly.

"No." Kakashi said bluntly. Rin's face fell but she quickly recovered as she glanced around for Obito.

"We just wanted to see you both off before we head out to pick Obito." Jiraiya explained before turning to greet Rin's mother who was watching her daughter apprehensively.

"It's my fault she's late." Mrs. Nohara said with an apologetic bow as Minato rose to greet her. "Honestly I was hoping that you would excuse her from this mission completely. You see, she's not very well."

"Mother!" Rin cried out as her face turned a deep crimson. Kakashi's ears perked up as he suddenly turned to appraise his teammate's appearance.

"Mind if I ask why Nohara-san?" Minato wondered with a light chuckle.

"Don't mind her sensei! I'm ready to go whenever you are." Rin said grabbing her sensei by the arm as she tried to pull him away from her mother.

"Not so fast Rin! Try not to exert yourself so much during this deli—" Rin turned and leveled her mother with a baleful glare cutting off the doting housewife's fussing.

"Here, wipe that off." Minato said handing his student a water-soaked handkerchief as he pointed towards her cheeks. When Mrs. Nohara gave him a quizzical look he chuckled nervously as he turned to explain himself. "Our mission requires us to disguise our appearances. We can't risk someone recognizing the Nohara clan's markings along the way."

"Ah," Mrs. Nohara said with a relieved chuckle. "Thank goodness. I thought the dye-job was supposed to be some kind of fashion statement." Minato felt his cheeks flush with heat as he responded with an awkward chuckle. "I mean don't get me wrong, the color suits you but it's not as appealing as your natural color."

At this Jiraiya threw back his head, clapping his student's shoulder in amusement as he and Mrs. Nohara shared a hearty guffaw. Minato turned towards Rin and gave her a reassuring smile as she cast him an apologetic look, shuffling her feet awkwardly in embarrassment.

"Mother, please! We have to get going now. We're already late as it is."

"It's alright, we will make up the time." Minato said as he waved at Kakashi and Jiraiya. He immediately turned around, taking Rin's hand in his as he flew through a complex series of hand seals with his free hand. The front gates of Konoha melted into the evergreen hills that lined the Land of Fire's northwestern border with the Land of Rivers as the hard earth beneath their feet softened to vibrant dew-covered grass.

Rin stood blinking at the picturesque horizon with wide brown eyes as her sensei ducked into a dilapidated shack hidden beneath a thicket of smothering vines.

"Rin, over here," Minato called before ducking into the musty little shack. He pulled out a long grey chalk with his left hand and drew a large circle at the center of the shack. Rin watched as he marked and labeled the circle with an intricate pattern of symbols and characters before weaving a set of hand seals and slamming his palm to the ground. Five dark blue candles appeared along the marked points on the circle as Minato lifted his long-sleeved shirt over his head before settling down at the heart of the circle.

"T-this is the altar for the seal you assigned me to study last night." Rin gasped as her eyes widened in realization. Minato nodded without turning around to face her as he beckoned her forward with his chalk-stained hand.

"You remembered the hand signs for the seal don't you?" Rin nodded before remembering that her sensei's back was to her.

"Hai!"

"Good," Minato said pressing the chalk into her palm before turning away. "I want you to perform the seal."

"S-sensei?" She stuttered in disbelief. Minato turned and gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's alright, Rin-chan." He said.

"But sensei!" Rin cried out dropping the chalk in dismay. "Without your chakra, you won't be able to perform any ninjutsu or genjutsu."

"I know."

"So why are you asking me to do this?!" The petite brunette cried out shaking her head in confusion. "This is an S-ranked mission, sensei. You of all people should know how the dangers tha—"

"Rin!" Minato's voice was firm but kind. "Do you trust me?" The frightened kunoichi nodded once again as she slowly bent to retrieve the fallen chalk with trembling fingers. "Will you help me with this? I would do it but the seal only works when the caster is different from the subject."

"H-hai!" Minato watched his student's shadow in the wall opposite him as she carefully weaved the necessary hand seals before pressing her palm to the center of his back. Minato squeezed his eyes shut and stiffened his shoulders as a scalding heat spread from the place Rin had touched to the rest of his body. White hot pain engulfed him as he felt each of his chakra points abruptly shut down in rapid succession.

He doubled over with a pained expression as a heavy numbness finally settled over him. Several seconds passed as Minato slowly but surely rose to his feet, pausing briefly to extricate a dark long-sleeved shirt and matching pants from his backpack. He turned and held out the clothes for Rin who accepted them quietly.

"Change into those." He instructed before retrieving a white hooded tracksuit with blue stripes for himself. Rin retreated to a hidden corner of the shack within a dusty pantry and quickly changed into her new clothes. By the time she emerged, Minato was wiping away the last traces of their presence.

"Sensei." Rin's voice sounded tiny and frightened to her own ears as she followed her sensei out into the sunlit valley.

"Yes, Rin?" Minato said turning to give her an apologetic smile.

"W-why? Why did you make me seal away your chakra?" Minato beckoned her towards him as he unfurled a large worn map which he spread out on the ground before them.

"Our mission is to locate and destroy a secret laboratory in the Land of Wind." Minato's long finger traced down a winding line parallel to the Land of Fire's northeast border. "We'll enter the Land of Wind through the Land of Rivers. There are hundreds of scouts and sentinels guarding the borders. Since I cannot completely suppress my chakra at will, I need the seal to do that for me."

"But," Rin hesitated. "What would happen if we come across enemy shinobi? How will you defend yourself? Without your ninjutsu, we'll be sitting ducks."

"A shinobi must be versatile and prepared to adapt to any given set of circumstances," Minato replied. "Genjutsu and Ninjutsu aren't the only offensive tools we shinobi have at our disposal. My natural speed should be enough to handle any problems we encounter. Remember, no matter what happens, we are not shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. We are civilian travelers touring the countryside."

"Do I have to suppress my chakra as well?" Rin wondered with a wary frown. Minato shook his head in response and chuckled when he saw how relieved she was. He didn't have the heart to tell her that her chakra signature wasn't significant enough to attract any special attention.

"Any other questions?" Minato asked as he returned the map to his pocket before rising to lead the way.

"How long will this mission last?" Rin wondered.

"That depends on how fast we can travel." He replied with a shrug. "And whether or not we run into any problems along the way. Honestly, I have no idea. But typically, infiltration missions like this tend to last for quite some time so be ready and don't let your guard down. I'm counting on you."

"I'll do my best to keep up with you sensei." Rin declared with a determined cry. "I promise I won't let you down!"

"That's my girl," Minato said with a doting smile.

* * *

"Rin get behind me." Minato hissed in a hushed tone as he spotted two figures slowly approaching their campsite. Rin flew to her sensei's side, hunting knife drawn at her side as she squinted at the figures suspiciously. The metallic smell of blood filled his nostrils as the figures neared them.

"H-help, please!" A slumped figure rasped, his features contorted in a pained frown. Minato's eyes narrowed suspiciously when he noticed that the man's bloodstained forehead protector bore Konoha's emblem.

"What happened?" Rin gasped as she flew towards the injured man's side, her medic instincts suppressing her sensei's warning from before. Minato watched as healing chakra filled his student's palm as she turned to tend to the injured man's wounds.

"We were ambushed returning from a mission along the border." The second man replied as he lowered his injured friend to the ground and turned to give Minato a grateful bow. Minato lifted his knee catching the stranger in the jaw instantly knocking him out cold. Rin shrieked in horror as her sensei tackled his injured partner to the ground. The injured man threw up his hands to defend himself but Minato deftly twisted his neck, snapping his spine.

"Guard him!" Minato barked snatching the hunting knife from the ground where Rin had discarded it and disappearing into the surrounding trees. He plunged the jagged blade into the crouching hostile's chest shattering his sternum before leaping unto the neighboring tree to cut down his comrade. Only when he had slain all eighteen of the hidden hostiles did he descend from the trees and return to Rin's side.

"S-sensei?" Rin squeaked as she trembled uncontrollably. "You k-killed our comrade."

"You sure about that?" Minato asked as he hastily set about gathering their things. Rin turned towards the corpse at her feet. She noticed a red cloth sticking out of his flak jacket pocket and pulled it out. Her jaw dropped as the metal forehead protector clanged to the floor, Sunagakure's symbol glistening in the silver rays of the half moon.

"How did you—?"Minato groaned as he hoisted the unconscious shinobi unto his back and straightened up.

"There should be a cave around here." The blue-eyed jounin said cutting her off. Rin sheepishly rose and ran off to find the cave her sensei had mentioned leading the way. Minato walked past her into the cave, pausing to dump his load unto the ground. The injured impostor groaned loudly as Minato pressed his knee to his chest. When he motioned for Rin to start a fire, she hastily flew to his side and obliged. Minato pulled out the hunting knife from before, pausing to wipe it clean before using it to slash at the impostor's wrists and ankles. Rin grimaced as the man's wretched screams filled the cave.

"There." Minato said straightening up as he completed his gory task.

"You can torture me all you want!" The man cried out bravely. "I'm not going to betray my comrades!"

"I only severed the tendons in your wrists and ankles so you wouldn't be able to run away." Minato stated calmly as he turned away. The ninja recoiled in horror as he examined his slashed limbs. "Gag him now but wait until he falls asleep to bandage his wounds." As he spoke Minato laid out their sleeping bags before settling down to rest in one.

"Sensei, I'm so sorry." Rin squeaked with trembling shoulders.

"Do you still have the scroll I gave you?" Minato asked as he turned to lie on his stomach. She nodded, hastily wiping the tears streaming down her cheeks. "There is a formula towards the back I want you to memorize by tomorrow. Can you manage that?" She nodded feebly as her sensei's eyes grew heavy with sleep.

* * *

Minato watched as Rin flew through a series of hand seals that prompted familiar dark markings to appear on her palms. He directed her to press the seal unto the whimpering shinobi's forehead and waited for the markings to disappear into his flesh before proceeding. The shinobi's eyes glazed over as the seal markings spread down to the rest of his face.

"How old are you?" Minato asked quietly.

"Thirty-one." The man replied dully.

"Where are you from?"

"Sunagakure no sato."Came the impostor's reply.

"What rank are you?" Minato asked as he lowered his gaze to study the man's bandaged wrists.

"J-jounin."

"Very good." Minato said with a satisfied nod as he released his wrist. "What is your name?"

"G-Genma, Fujiwara G-Genma."

"Nicely done." Minato said turning to give Rin a pleased smile. "It seems that you really do have a talent for sealing jutsus."

"T-thank you, sensei." The guilt of her gullibility the previous day still weighed heavily on her. Although Minato wanted to offer her words of encouragement, he decided to let her grapple with the reality of her actions. "But I'm afraid I'm not quite sure how the seal works."

"It's very simple really." Minato replied. "The seal suppresses a shinobi's deceptive instincts forcing their actions and responses to reveal their true intentions."

"I'm glad." Rin said with a relieved sigh. "For a moment, I thought you were going to torture him when you started slashing his wrists."

"Physical torture hardly yields reliable information." Minato explained. "Although the interrogation squad has other ways of extracting information, I'm not very good at using their techniques. Just remember, this seal only lasts for twenty-four hours—shorter if the subject is especially strong-willed."

"Can't you just renew the seal once it wears off?" Rin wondered.

"You could but you'd have to be very careful." Minato replied. "Honestly I would advise against renewing the seal after the first twenty-four hours. A seal this invasive traumatizes the victim's psyche the longer they are subjected to it. The last thing you want is your prisoner's brain turning into goo."

"Hai, sensei."

"You've done well." Minato repeated with a pleasant smile. "I'm going to extract as much information about the guard posts and patrol schedules so we can proceed. You should try to get some rest."

"One last question sensei." Rin said pressing her palms together with a shy smile. Minato chuckled and gave her an indulgent nod as he turned to face her. "How did you realize that they were imposters?"

"My sensory skills are attuned enough to detect their chakra signatures even with my chakra network sealed." Minato replied. "Although I was able to sense their approach, I wasn't sure of their intentions until I realized something odd about their behavior."

"What was it?" Rin asked intrigued.

"If they had been ambushed like they claimed, they should have discarded their forehead protectors and been wary of any strangers they encountered."

"But sensei, we look like civilians. Couldn't that have been why they trusted us so easily?"

"I haven't been completely honest with you Rin." Minato said with an awkward smile. "The reason I didn't suppress your chakra was because I didn't think it was significant enough to be detected by average sensory type ninja."

"Oh, I get it now." Rin said, brown eyes wide. "Any ninja skilled enough to detect my chakra signature would be baited into investigating or ambushing us."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you that from the outset." Minato said sheepishly. "You were really shaken by having to seal away my chakra that I wasn't quite sure how you'd take it."

"It's alright sensei." Rin said with an understanding smile. "I'll try to get stronger so you don't have to worry about protecting me."

"That's what I wanted to hear."

* * *

The information Minato had extracted from the injured Sunagakure sentry allowed them to slip past the other guard posts and stations virtually undetected. Although it would have normally taken them two days to reach their destination, they were forced to stop more often than they would have preferred so Minato could rest.

Although Minato had anticipated his significantly-reduced stamina as a side-effect of sealing his chakra network, he hadn't realized how much of normal physical exertions were reliant on chakra. While his body was in peak physical condition, it was unaccustomed to the rigors of shinobi life without a supporting chakra network. As much as he hated stopping to rest, he was forced to accept the limits he was beginning to regret placing on his body. As expected Rin considerately went out of her way to accommodate her sensei's weakened state, suggesting frequent rest stops and always taking the first watch.

By the time they finally reached the hidden entrance to the secret underground laboratory, eight days had passed since their departure from Konoha. They concealed themselves behind a pair of large boulders as they studied the patrol patterns of the guards stationed throughout the gorge.

"We'll make our move once night falls." Minato informed Rin as they settled down to make camp.

"Sensei," the concern in Rin's voice was impossible to miss. "I counted thirty-seven men at the entrance alone."

"I know." Minato said as he turned to count his explosive tags.

"There will be more men inside." She warned. "You can't take them all by yourself. At least…not like this." Minato chuckled and shook his head without saying anything in response.

"I'll go ahead and create a diversion." Minato said as he secured his weapons' pouch to his person. "I want you to stay close to the shadows and follow me. Don't fall behind, no matter what. You'll set the explosive tags once we've secured the lab and detonate it once we're out."

"Won't the explosion attract attention?" Rin asked.

"I'll show you how to set the charges so that the collapse looks more natural." Minato explained.

"Will that work?"

"No, but it should buy us enough time to escape and throw them off our scent."

"Right." A chilly breeze drifted through the gorge as the sun slowly but surely disappeared beneath the western horizon. "I wonder what Kakashi and Obito are doing right now?" Rin wondered as they finished their ration bar.

Minato shrugged with a small smile as he dumped the empty wrappers into a storage scroll they had been using to store their trash. Rin sealed the contents of the scroll and stowed it away before settling down to watch the drifting clouds above.

"I never thought I'd say this," Minato chuckled. "But I'm beginning to miss their constant squabbling." Rin giggled at this.

"It's probably best that they didn't come." Rin stated quietly. "Their raised voices would have given away our location." Minato grunted in agreement as he shifted into a more comfortable position.

"Did you ever go on a secret mission with Jiraiya-sama when he was still your sensei?" Rin wondered.

"Twice I think." Minato replied with a pleasant smile as he recalled the fond memories of their growing bond. "He'd accepted a mission to protect a merchant's beautiful daughter on her journey to meet her betrothed. He kept hitting on her and kept getting shut down. I'll never forget the disbelief on her face when he ended up saving the day."

"How did the second mission go?" Rin asked as her fit of laughter finally subsided.

"Not good." Minato replied with a somber frown. "We were sent to track down a rogue-nin who had kidnapped a member of the Yamanaka clan before defecting. Turns out the victim and her kidnapper had been childhood sweethearts so she turned on us the instant we killed him."

"What happened to her?" Rin wondered wide-eyed.

"She retired from shinobi life and eventually defected."

"W-was she killed." Minato nodded slowly as a grave silence fell between them. "That's awful."

"A lot of what we do is." Minato admitted. "Assassinations, kidnapping, espionage, sabotage—we're in the unique business of destroying people's lives."

"But we do protect others, don't we?" Rin asked hopefully. "Most of our missions involve doing chores, protecting travelers, retrieving stolen goods and guarding precious cargo."

"When you become a jounin like me most of your missions will be like this one." Minato said with a somber sigh.

"Is that why you never seem to mind whenever we're assigned C and D-ranked missions?" Rin asked with a sympathetic frown. Minato stared into the darkness without uttering a syllable in response. "Kakashi really hates going on C and D-ranked missions. Even though he won't say it, I know that he feels like we're holding him back from better missions."

"Do you feel like you are?" Minato wondered quietly. At first the petite kunoichi started to shake her head before slowly catching herself and nodding after some consideration. "How do you plan to change that?"

"By training harder."

"Very good." Minato said as he slowly rose to his feet. "Think that's dark enough, don't you?" He asked languidly stretching his hands high above his head as he pulled up the hood of his tracksuit.

"Sensei," Rin said blinking at the bright sleeve of his tracksuit. "Shouldn't you change into something…darker? With your tracksuit they'll see you coming from a mile away."

"Good. I'm counting on it."

* * *

The first kunai embedded itself deep within the first guard's forehead causing him to fall to his death with an earsplitting scream. The sound of his plummet drew three more guards from their stations on the lower levels of the gorge. Confused chatter filled the night air as the guards called out to their comrades on the ground level. Their confusion gave way to alarm and anger as the guards discovered the kunai lodged in their friend's skull. They scanned the horizon for the culprit and instantly spotted a white blur sprinting towards them.

The ground-level guards charged at him with an angry roar, as their comrades on the higher levels unleashed a hail of kunai. Minato deftly dodged and deflected the lethal projectiles as they hurtled towards him. Snatching a few kunai out of the air, the blue-eyed jounin spun into a spiral, planting the knives deep into two charging guards' abdomen before slicing at a third's throat. A large fist connected with his face knocking his hood off as he stumbled several steps backwards before regaining his footing. The towering guard bore down on him with another ferocious punch which Minato caught in his left palm before twisting the arm around. He slashed at the enraged shinobi's armpit, severing his arm from his body.

The ground beneath them shook with an unnatural energy as several shinobi slammed their palms unto the ground. Minato leapt high into the air, descending on the culprits with a vicious kick before taking them out with a lightening-fast slice at their throats. He lifted his forearm to absorb the force of a brutal roundhouse kick as his legs were swept from beneath him by another attacker. Pushing off from the ground with his palms, Minato drilled his heels into his charging attackers' chests, shattering their sternums with a sickening crunch.

He ducked out of the way to avoid a rolling rockslide, pausing to hurl a pair of shuriken that severed the culprit's head. A guard foolishly lunged at him with a katana which Minato quickly relieved him of before slicing him in half. Bloodcurdling screams filled the night air as Minato hacked and sliced his way through the waves of charging foes. With the ground foes vanquished, Minato took off towards the wall, scaling the steep mountain at a run. A guard reached to stab him with a kunai. Minato spun out of the way, yanking him off the ledge without missing a beat. The shinobi's shrieks ended with a sickening crunch as his body crashed into the ground below. The blue-eyed jounin noticed the retreating backs of three guards and hastened after them.

He hurled a large rock at one of the guard's head knocking him out instantly as he flung the katana in his left hand at the second's retreating back. The blade pierced through the guard's neck sending him crashing to the ground. Minato yanked the sword out as he sprinted past the gurgling corpse, icy blue eyes trained on his prey's trembling form. At the last moment, the frightened guard tripped and fell to the ground. He turned towards Minato, eyes wide and fearful as he prepared to plead for his life. The blue-eyed jounin ended his life with a sweeping slash of his arm, slicing the coward in half.

Minato strained his senses for any signs of any surviving foes as he smashed the skull of the guard he had knocked out earlier. Hearing none, he slowly climbed down from the mountain, landing gracelessly near Rin's hiding place.

"I think…you…k-killed them all." Rin said with a horrified gasp as she took in her sensei's blood-soaked clothes.

"I don't sense any chakra signatures inside the lab." Minato mumbled to himself as he cautiously approached the entrance.

"S-sensei, you're hurt." Rin said tugging meekly at his sleeve. Minato impatiently brushed her aside focusing his attention towards the depths of the cave. An eerie howl echoed through the cavern as a chilly gust blew in behind them. Although they passed a few guard stations and posts, they didn't encounter another living soul until they were deep within the laboratory.

They walked past giant vats of gurgling chemicals and steaming pipes until they reached a section of the lab with thick rusty bars lining the cells along the main corridor. The pungent odor of rotting flesh permeated the air around them causing their eyes to water. Rin shrieked as she recoiled from the severed hand of a freshly-rotten corpse. Minato turned to quiet her and instantly felt his body go numb at the sight of a trembling youth cowering in the far corner of a cell.

The youth was only barely taller than Rin with messy red hair that framed his boyish features. Minato's gasped as he met his wide violet eyes.

" _K-Kushina_?!" Without thinking, Minato had crossed the corridor, kicking the cell door open with his foot. At first the redhead fled from him, backing into the furthest corner of his tiny cell. Minato felt a twinge of guilt at the youth's distress and silently stepped away, allowing Rin to coax him out of the shadows with a kind smile.

"Sensei!" Rin said with a trembling whimper as she held out the youth's slender arm for Minato to inspect. At first Minato merely blinked at the expanse of pale flesh without comprehending until he finally noticed the dark purple veins littered along his limb.

"Poison." Minato's eyes narrowed into deadly slits as he turned to study the corpses in the other cells. Although most of the remains were far too decayed to make out any features, he counted six with the trademark fiery red hair of the Uzumaki clan. "Who did this?"

"L-Lady Chiyo."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

" _ **By the way," Minato shifted nervously on the wooden bench as he turned to face her. "Why were those men trying to kidnap you last night?" A slender finger reached up to tuck a wayward strand of fiery red hair behind her small ear, long elegant lashes falling as her violet gaze dropped to her lap.**_

" _ **I have…I don't know…" The lie hung awkwardly in the space between them as Kushina Uzumaki slowly rose to leave.**_

" _ **Don't go." Minato said quietly as he grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. She turned to face him with tear-stained eyes as he gave her a reassuring smile. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."**_

" _ **Arigatou….Minato-kun"**_

" _ **Minato! No!" Mikoto's nails dug into the skin of his forearm as she planted her feet into the frozen hard earth. He lunged forward, trying to rip away her fingers as his screams pierced the howling December blizzard.**_

" _ **No one could have survived that fall, and with a tree on top of her, no way forget it." Hizashi Hyuga reasoned as he joined the raven-haired kunoichi's feeble attempts to contain the distraught blond.**_

" _ **Be quiet!" Minato snapped, falling forward as Mikoto's grip on his forearm slipped.**_

 _ **Six of them had been fleeing along a rope bridge overlooking a massive ravine, Kirigakure's elite hunter nin hot on their tails. As the fastest, Minato had been entrusted with the stolen scrolls leaving the other five to hold off the pursuing hostiles. Against his better judgment, Minato had stopped to observe his comrades' battle on the bridge at the exact moment the bridge snapped with a deafening roar plunging four unfortunate souls into the snowy abyss.**_

 _ **He had arrived in time to see Mikoto help Hizashi up. When Kushina didn't emerge, his heart had sunk to the pit of his stomach as his teammates wrestled him to the ground.**_

 _ **Without thinking Minato leapt off the ravine flying through a series of hand seals that produced a light current of air. Minato rode the wave of chakra-laden air until he reached the bottom of the abyss where he noticed a glowing blood-red flame beneath the battered bark of a once mighty tree.**_

" _ **Kushina!" Minato cried out when he noticed his lover's flyaway red hair strewn on the ground around her. The crimson flames intensified as a malevolent wave of chakra knocked him off his feet. The bark of the tree exploded into a million pieces as the crushed figure beneath it gingerly fought its way back to life.**_

" _ **K-Kushina?!" Although Minato's voice came out in a barely audible gasp, the smothering bloodlust intensified as the petite kunoichi noticed him. In an instant she had gripped his neck with one hand, effortlessly lifting him off his feet before slamming him against the jagged wall. Minato's vision blurred as he instinctively started weaving a series of seals he had forgotten he memorized long ago.**_

 _ **The steaming red chakra cloaking his lover's form receded as soon as his seal touched her neck. He collapsed to the floor coughing and wheezing as his vision slowly regained focus.**_

" _ **I'm so sorry." Kushina said tears streaming down her face as she rained feathery kisses on his flushed features.**_

" _ **H-how long?"Minato rasped as she helped him to his feet.**_

" _ **I wanted to tell you, I was going to tell you I just…I didn't want to frighten you."**_

" _ **That night…" His eyes narrowed as he remembered the night of her near-abduction. "Those men…"**_

" _ **No. It was sealed afterwards."**_

" _ **But why you?" Minato asked suddenly beside himself. "Of all the people in the Hidden Leaf Village, why did they have to seal it inside you?!"**_

" _ **Because…" Her gaze fell as she released him. "I'm an Uzumaki. My clan possesses an unnaturally resilient life-force that helps us endure things that would kill most people. It's why my body is suited to contain the demon fox inside me. I didn't tell you—or anyone for that matter because if more people knew they would shun me and want nothing to do with me."**_

" _ **I would never have shunned you." Minato said not bothering to hide the sadness from his voice as he turned away.**_

" _ **I know but…something inside me doubted…I'm not sure why I didn't know better but deep down inside—you don't know what it's been like for me and my people. Until now, everyone who had ever learned my secret either shunned me or hunted me down. Don't you understand? I couldn't risk losing this—I wasn't sure if you would turn on me. I'm so sorry, Minato-kun."**_

" _ **No more," Minato had said taking her by the shoulder and forcing her to meet his eyes. "Do you understand me? No more secrets. That ends here. I can't have you holding back while I bare my soul to you." Kushina's eyes filled with unshed tears as he pulled her into a crushing embrace. "It's our secret now. Yours and mine."**_

"Sensei?" Rin's voice roused Minato from his thoughts as he turned to watch her. "Sorry, it's just that your eyes glazed over just now and your grip around him slumped somewhat." He turned and gave her an apologetic smile as she adjusted the redhead slumped on his back. Rin stopped to examine the unconscious form draped across her sensei's back.

"I'm sorry. Is he alright?" Minato asked when she was done attending to the poisoned youth. She nodded with a grim expression as they continued walking.

On the horizon they noticed the outline of a tiny civilian village along the Land of Wind's eastern border. Minato's eyes narrowed as he observed the progress of the ominous cloud of dust gathering along the horizon. There was no way they would reach the village before the sandstorm reached them.

"Let's wait out the storm in this cave." Minato said turning towards a nearby cave. Rin followed him. He gently set the redhead down as she secured the entrance of the cave with a large boulder and lit a fire.

"You're both shinobi…aren't you?" The redhead's voice was weak and raspy from disuse as his dull violet eyes turned to meet Minato's striking blue. A grim frown creased Minato's eyebrows as his gaze fell on the sickly purple veins lining the redhead's frail arm.

"Save your strength." Rin said gently propping the youth's head with a stack of clothes she had bundled together. She unfurled a thick blanket which she wrapped around his feverish form as he studied them intently.

"You saved my life." The youth said with a grateful smile as he feebly extended his hand. Long spiderlike fingers hung expectantly as he watched Minato with a gentle smile. "My name is Daisuke."

"Minato." The blue-eyed jounin said as he accepted his hand with a small smile.

"Rin." His student offered with a kind smile as she shook his hand in turn.

"Thank you, Minato…Rin." The redhead said as he lowered his hand to his side. Minato's eyes fell to the needle marks littered across the pale flesh. Judging by the scars and markings along his arm, some of those needle marks were several years old. "Until now, I had lived in fear of shinobi—convinced that they only exist to wreck destruction upon all who cross their paths."

"A notion one can hardly fault you for believing." Minato stated grimly. Daisuke reached out once more, gently brushing his calloused knuckles with the tips of his own slightly calloused fingers.

"You both have convinced me that there are good shinobi in this world." Daisuke murmured gratefully.

"How long were you their prisoner?" Rin tugged the sleeve of his tracksuit catching his eye and giving him a meaningful look. "I'm sorry." Minato's words hung in the hollow vastness of the cavern as the dust storm howled beyond. They watched quietly as Daisuke's violet gaze grew weak with sleep as he drifted off easily, his small chest rising and falling gently beneath his pale palm.

"Sensei? Where are you going?" Rin wondered as Minato abruptly rose to his feet. She watched as her sensei's lanky form rummage through their supplies, digging out a large cloak along with an old pair of Obito's goggles which he hastily threw on. When he turned to face her, his features were largely obscured by the goggles and the cloak's high collar. "You can't be seriously thinking about going out there in that storm sensei?"When Minato turned without responding, she rose and scrambled to block his path with her small frame.

"Rin," his icy blue eyes met hers as a stern frown thinned his lips. "Move." She felt her body move as if spurred by some foreign force and promptly found herself watching her sensei's lithe frame roll over the massive boulder she had used to block the entrance. He slipped out through a thin gap he had created before motioning for her to roll the rock back into place behind him.

"Water! Bring some water quickly!" Minato heard someone cry out as a sudden weightlessness overcame him. He heard the rushed patter of feet accompanied by the loud sloshing sound of water. He weakly lifted up his arm as he cracked an eyelid to take in his surroundings. A shiver ran down his spine as cold water was unceremoniously dumped on his head soaking him through. He reached out, desperately grasping for anything to steady himself with as a second and third wave of water descended upon his shivering form.

"What's that pooling at his feet?" Someone asked with a curious cry. Minato wiped the stream of water blinding him as he glanced down at his feet. He bit his lower lip, silently cursing his bad luck when he noticed the orange-tinted water there.

"Do you think he's bleeding?" A third voice chimed in horrified.

"Baka! Since when is blood orange?"The first voice scolded.

"P-please…I mean you no harm. I'm look—" Minato's sentence was abruptly cut off as a blunt object collided with the back of his head knocking him out cold.

When he awoke moments later he was hanging in a damp dimly lit dungeon not unlike the one he had rescued Daisuke from. The metallic stench of blood clung to the musty air around him as a pained howl rang out in the distance. As he moved his limbs experimentally, he suddenly became aware of his naked flesh completely exposed to the elements. His damp blond mane hung loosely around his shoulders, the last drops of orange dye oozing down his naked frame as he quietly took in his surroundings.

"He's up, milady!" A young girl's voice called out from behind him. Minato craned his neck around in time to see a petite blonde march inside the dungeon beside a burly man with an austere frown.

"—a shinobi, you can torture him all you want and he will not yield." The blonde stated bluntly as they walked around to face him.

"It's probably best if I just kill him then." The man said menacingly, reaching towards the sword strapped to his hip. The blonde grabbed his arm and gave him a cautious frown which he completely ignored as he shrugged her off. "I won't have him putting my people in danger. He could be a spy for all we know!" As he lowered his arm to slash Minato, his weapon was knocked out of his arm with one deft kick that sent him stumbling several feet back.

"Don't get the wrong idea," Minato said calmly as he casually wrapped the chains holding his shackles around his forearm. "I'm looking for someone that can heal a dying comrade of mine." They watched as his palm closed around the chain as he pulled down on it with all his might.

"Use your chakra." The blonde ordered, striking hazel eyes meeting his. Minato chuckled awkwardly as his attempts to rip the chains faltered.

"If I could I would." He muttered meekly as he lowered his gaze.

"And why can't you?" She asked eyes narrowing suspiciously. "You're a shinobi, aren't you?"

"Please, my comrade is badly poisoned." His sky blue eyes met hers once more as he lifted his head. "If you don't help him, he'll die." Hazel-brown eyes hardened at his entreaty as the buxom medic turned away unmoved.

"Everyone dies." She said coldly.

"Eleven years ago you fought Amegakure's Hanzo of the Salamander." Minato's hope flickered as he watched Tsunade's frame freeze in her tracks. "Although you were one of three to survive this encounter, you were the one who devised an antidote to his venom."

"Tsunade-hime!" The burly man cried out as the petite kunoichi sliced the chains binding Minato with a chakra-laden palm.

"Take me to your comrade." She said ripping the shackles on his wrists. He bent down to retrieve his clothes from a nearby bench and settled down to put them on.

"Please my lady I don't understand!" The muscular man said not bothering to hide his exasperation. "It's clear that he's a shinobi and a dangerous one at that. How can you trust him so completely?"

"No one desperate enough to crawl through that sandstorm is a threat to you and your people." Tsunade shot back impatiently. "Ichigo, relax. I know what I'm doing." She turned just as Minato was done dressing. "This way."

She led him out of the dungeon following a labyrinth of corridors and dimly lit staircases until they reached the entrance at the top. Stars littered the moonless sky as a cool breeze drifted around them.

"Can you manage?" Tsunade asked hazel eyes watching his lanky form with measured optimism. Minato nodded with a determined purse of his lips as they prepared to take off.

"My lady!" A small girl with short black hair and dark eyes stumbled out of the dungeon behind them, running around until she was blocking their path with outstretched hands. Minato's lips tugged into a small smile as he was overcome with a feeling of déjà vu.

"My apprentice, Shizune." Tsunade said introducing the small kunoichi with an amused chuckle. "You'll have to forgive her, she's fiercely protective of me."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Minato." He extended his arm towards the girl with a warm smile. Shizune lowered her senbon but did not accept his handshake.

"I should have known." Tsunade scoffed. "Only Jiraiya would train a student gutsy enough to seal away his chakra for a mission."

"You-you've heard of me?" Minato asked taken aback.

"Heard of you?!" Tsunade said with a hearty chuckle. "You're all that pervert can talk about for days on end. You'd think he had discovered the Sage of Six Paths second coming." Minato turned away rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly with an embarrassed smile.

"Gomen." He muttered softly before remembering why he had sought her out in the first place. "Shall we?" She nodded before turning to address her apprentice.

"Wait here, I'll be right back."

"No, milady. I'm coming with you." Shizune insisted as she cast Minato a distrustful look. Tsunade wordlessly turned to follow Minato as he sprinted towards the entrance of the tiny village. Their footsteps echoed through the sleepy town as the hard paved ground soon gave way to soft, uneven terrain of the desert.

"That seal on your chakra," Tsunade said as they neared their destination. "How long has it been there?"

"Over a fortnight now." Minato replied casually. Although he felt Tsunade's gaze trailing him, he didn't acknowledge or respond to her concerns.

"Are you planning on undoing it anytime soon?" She wondered not bothering to hide her annoyance. "You know how devastating prolonged chakra suppression can be?"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take." Minato replied tersely as they reached the cave entrance.

"At what cost?" She asked grabbing his arm. "Is any mission truly worth losing your ability to weave chakra?"

"Yes." Minato stated quietly as he turned to roll the rock away. He groaned and grunted as he pushed and dug his shoulders into the rock willing it to move with every muscle in his lithe frame. The rock remained unmoving.

"Your muscles are not used to the exertions of shinobi life." Tsunade observed as he leaned against the wall to catch his breath. "Tasks we shinobi often take for granted—running, lifting, fighting—all rely on small amounts of chakra. It is what separates us shinobi from common folk. The longer your body goes without weaving chakra the harder it will become to reverse the seal." As she spoke, Tsunade moved towards the rock. Deceptively small fingers wrapped around the massive boulder before rolling it away with one easy flick of her elbow.

Rin was crouched protectively in front of Daisuke's limp form, brown eyes wide and attentive, tiny fist clenched around a large hunting knife. She relaxed her stance when she noticed her sensei's form slumped against the wall and hurried to greet him.

"I was so worried sensei." The brown-eyed kunoichi said tearfully as she helped her teacher inside. "I thought something bad had happened to you."

"Were you the one who sealed off his chakra?" Tsunade asked as she threw off her bulky cloak with a flourish of her hand. Rin nodded as she gently lowered her sensei to the floor.

"I'm fine, Rin." Minato groaned with a weak smile. "See if she needs any help."

"Stay with him." Tsunade barked when Rin moved to obey her sensei. "Shizune will assist me. Once we're done here you're going to show us how to undo that seal."

Minato's hand found his student's as she watched the Senju heiress and her apprentice tend to Daisuke's fading form. He gave her a reassuring squeeze as she turned to face him with a surprised gasp.

"It's alright, Rin." Minato offered calmly. "He'll be fine now. You did wonderfully. They're going to take it from here."

"Take it easy sensei, please save your strength."

Minutes bled into hours as Minato drifted in and out of an uneasy slumber. When he finally awoke for the last time, he noticed the familiar tingle of healing chakra coursing through his veins and lifted his eyelids. Sunlight stung his eyes as he groggily hoisted himself up, resting his weight on his elbows.

"I hope you realize how lucky you were to have survived the ordeal you put your body through." The soft timbre of the blonde medic's voice lessened the bite of her scolding as she leaned backwards allowing him to move. Minato muttered a word of thanks as he slowly sat up, taking in the empty cave around him.

"Where are the others?" He wondered straining his senses for any sign of his student and the redhead prisoner they had rescued.

"Please relax and don't move around so I can heal you." The Senju heiress scolded gently coaxing him back unto his pillow with a chakra-laden hand. "How's it looking down there?" Minato blinked as he suddenly became aware of a slimy mass slithering out from between his thighs. His eyes widened as a white slug with blue streaks running down its sides emerged from the covers strategically placed around his waist. He watched as the slug's sensors turned towards Tsunade and gave what could only have been described as a grim shake of its head before disappearing into a cloud of smoke. Tsunade grit her teeth angrily as she retracted her chakra-laden palm from his form.

"What were you thinking pushing your body like that when your chakra was sealed away?" Tsunade barked turning on him with an annoyed glare. "What were you even thinking sealing your chakra away behind enemy lines?!"

"Gomen. I didn't mean to cause you so much trouble." Minato said with an apologetic look as he reached for his mesh under armor which was hanging from a crate of produce nearby. "I'm fine really. It's Daisuke you should be worried about."

"He's fine." Tsunade said with a dismissive scoff as she appraised his torso with a critical eye. "It's you who you should be worrying about. Honestly, do you have a death wish or something?"

"You were able to neutralize the poison then?" Minato asked ignoring her question. His blue eyes gleaming with hope as he twisted in his bed to steal a glimpse of his red-haired charge. The empty cave greeted him as the distant echo of children's laughter reached him. "Is that—? Is he playing outside?"

"Yes." Tsunade replied with an annoyed growl as she slowly handed him a dark haori bearing the kanji characters for the phrase "lucky strike" on the back. Minato slowly slipped his heavy limbs through the sleeves, hugging it close to his chest as he gently hoisted himself up. "Although you must know, I was only able to temporarily neutralize the poison for the time being. I'll need to take him back to Konoha to study and treat him properly. I've never seen a toxin this lethal and sophisticated—makes Hanzo's toxin look like child's play."

"How long do you think it will take you to create an antidote?"Minato wondered with a concerned frown. The blonde kunoichi shrugged, crossing her arms over her ample bosom as she leaned against the jagged cave wall.

"I'm not sure. It could take several weeks or even months…if it's as sophisticated as I think it is." She replied after a contemplative frown. "Rin told me about how you found him and what they had been doing to him. Did you manage to find out the one responsible for this by chance?"

"Someone by the name of Lady Chiyo." Minato replied with a tired sigh. Tsunade's body shifted at the sound of the name causing the blue-eyed jounin to arch an inquisitive eyebrow. "Someone you know?"

"Vaguely." Tsunade replied biting her lower lip angrily. "We never met but I know enough about her to fear any poison of her creation. During the Second Great Shinobi War she singlehandedly ended the fifty-day Siege of Fort Rokoku by poisoning its water supply, causing its commander to surrender and ally with Sunagakure. I'd heard that she had been killed soon after the war but that's clearly not true if she's developing toxins again. If she is really behind this, she cannot be allowed to finish her work."

"What makes you so sure she hasn't perfected her toxin already?" Minato wondered.

"Simple. Because if she had," Tsunade said pausing to place a hand on her hip as she pointed towards the cave entrance with the other. "Then that boy would be dead already."

"Of course," Minato said his hand dropping from his jaw as the harrowing realization suddenly hit him. "If even members of the famous Uzumaki clan can succumb to her toxins, what chance do we ordinary shinobi stand? I counted at least six Uzumaki corpses in the dungeon when I rescued him so her toxin must be nearing its completion."

"Have you reported any of this to Sandaime-sama?" Tsunade wondered. Minato shook his head. "I suggest you do so as quickly as possible. With any luck he'll send you proper reinforcements—no offense but I'm a little surprised he didn't send Orochimaru on this mission."

"Really? I'm not." Minato replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"How do you figure?" Tsunade asked crossing her arms with a smirk as she watched him.

"Given Orochimaru's…macabre inclinations…well…one can hardly fault Sandaime-sama for not wanting to tempt him." Minato stated matter-of-factly. "We all know he's very close to experimenting on human subjects…if he hasn't already."

"I see." Something seemed to shift in the air surrounding the petite kunoichi as she turned to walk away. Her foot froze mid-stride as she turned slightly to address him over her shoulder. "Well maybe Orochimaru would have had the common sense to not seal away his chakra!" The inexplicable harshness of her tone caught Minato completely off guard.

"Excuse me?"

"Seriously, Rin explained it to me but I'm still having a hard time understanding why sealing away your chakra was necessary for a rescue mission in the first place." Tsunade scoffed. "I get wanting to remain incognito but don't you know how to mask your chakra or something?"

"This didn't start out as a rescue mission." Minato said bluntly. "We were sent to destroy an underground laboratory on the outskirts of Sunagakure. We had received intelligence that a dangerous weapon was being manufactured there, who knew it was really Lady Chiyo's base of operations."

"Are you really this dim or are you trying to piss me off?" Tsunade's voice trembled with a fiery rage as she clenched her fists menacingly. "You're still harping on and on about the stupid mission ignoring the fact that you might have jeopardized your career as a shinobi for the sake of this wretched mission!"

"That bad huh?" Minato said quietly. Tsunade's eyes widened as she took in his calm demeanor.

"You knew the risks, didn't you?" Her honey-colored eyes narrowed as she watched him slip into his tracksuit and mesh under armor. "You're a fool if you think your little sacrifice will prevent war from breaking out. It doesn't matter whether Sunagakure discovers Konoha's involvement or not! At this rate, war is inevitable!"

"No it is not." Minato said with a determined frown. "If Sandaime-sama hasn't given up yet, we owe it to him to do everything in our power to support him."

"Even at the expense of your ninjutsu?" Tsunade wondered jaw trembling with barely-contained anger. He nodded grimly as he turned away.

"You're a naïve fool!" Tsunade barked poking her finger at his chest angrily. "How dare you do that to that poor little girl?! She'll be devastated if she ever finds out that she's responsible for her sensei's disability."

"Rin is a shinobi!" Minato stated firmly. "She's going to be forced to do horrific things and to make callous choices in the future. _That_ is inevitable. While it is important to value human life as a medic-nin, it is also important for her to never value a single life above all reason—even if it is my own."

Just then, Minato's senses perked up as he detected a figure quietly watching them from the shadows. His fingers were halfway to the dagger at his feet when he noticed the hint of red hair.

"Is that you Daisuke?" Minato said kicking the dagger behind him as he slowly approached the shadow with an outstretched hand. The redhead's trembling form shied away from his touch retreating further into the shadows.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop," the youth said his voice soft and apologetic. "I was just—"

"No need to hide." Minato said his cheeks spreading into a kind smile. "You're amongst friends now."

"Sensei, sensei!" Rin's voice echoed throughout the cave as she and Shizune sprinted towards them. "Look his eyes! His eyes! Show them Daisuke! Go on! Look! They changed color." Sure enough when Minato turned towards the shadows to inspect the redhead's once-purple irises rusty-brown eyes peeped meekly up at him.

"Interesting." Minato mused as the redhead slowly walked around him to stand behind Shizune. "Could the purple irises have been a side effect of the poison?"

"It's possible." Tsunade agreed with a distracted sigh. "It's not uncommon for heavy doses of certain chemicals to affect our body's physiological makeup—even if it is only temporary."

"Daisuke, you're trembling." Shizune observed with a worried frown as the redhead ducked further behind her. She traced the source of his distress to the spiky-haired jounin and her expression hardened. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing." Minato said throwing his hands up with a nervous chuckle.

"He probably just feels guilty because we caught him eavesdropping that's all." Tsunade stated nonchalantly as she turned to walk out. "You should report to the Hokage and see how he'd like us to proceed. If _she's_ responsible, we'll have to move quickly before they catch on."

"I don't understand." Rin said blinking slowly. "If who's responsible?" Minato turned to give his student a pointed look but noticed the redhead's white-knuckled grip on Shizune's shoulder slip. Minato caught him before his frame could hit the ground and steadied him before coaxing him into sitting position.

"Daisuke! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Shizune asked, her voice thick with concern as she examined her frail charge.

"I don't understand sensei," Rin said quietly as they stepped back to give Tsunade and Shizune enough room to work on the trembling redhead. "He was jumping around and playing with us a few minutes ago."

"His mind is broken…just like his body." Minato explained with a somber frown. "Even the hardy Uzumaki are not immune to the rigors of psychological trauma."

"The horrors he must have endured…to fall to pieces at the mere hint of his tormentor's name." Tsunade grit her teeth as she rose from the redhead's unconscious form. "I don't care what anyone says—that witch is going to pay!"

11


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

The crowded streets of Tanzaku Quarters were slowly but surely beginning to thin out as the awestruck spectators retreated indoors to enjoy the glittering game rooms and festive bathhouses lining the streets. Walking slowly down the vibrant street taking in the calling vendors and hostesses on the porches of their glittering stands and shops, it was easy to forget the woes and dangers of the shinobi world. Lively music permeated the evening air as a warm gentle breeze carried the tantalizing aromas of sumptuous cuisine. Minato hadn't realized that he had been smiling until he caught a glimpse of his reflection in a nearby display window as Rin pulled him past, brown eyes alight as she pointed and gasped at the shimmering lanterns high above them.

Behind them, Tsunade stood watching patiently as her petite apprentice paused to admire a basket of kittens tumbling and mewling over each other. There was a dull blast followed by a vibrant explosion of colors as the inky night sky lit up. Minato felt Rin's small fingers tug the sleeve of his tracksuit and turned to give her a fond smile as her face lit up.

"I'm cold." A tiny voice meekly whispered barely audible above the festive din. Blue eyes met dusty-brown irises as the spiky-haired jounin took in the youth's shivering form. Although he only seemed to be a four years younger than Minato, he was as slight as Obito and Kakashi. Like the silver-haired prodigy, the lids of his rust-colored eyes seemed perpetually weighed down by sleep or boredom. When he spoke, his voice was soft with a subtle huskiness that hinted at his burgeoning masculinity.

"We should stop for the night." Minato declared as he turned towards the rest of their party. Tsunade seemed to have read his mind as she was already approaching one of the hostesses beckoning from the entrance of a small bathhouse. The hostess smiled and led them into the small lobby of the bathhouse. Minato left Rin at Daisuke's side as he joined Tsunade at the counter.

"It's alright." Tsunade said without turning to face him as he dug into his pocket for some money. "I've got it." When she felt his bemusement, she turned and gave him a challenging smirk. "What? You thought I'd gambled away all my earnings?"

"Gambled?"Minato blinked with a confused smile. "Why…would I think you'd gam—"

"Never mind that!" Tsunade said quickly cutting him off. "I've got money and that's all you need to know."

"Right." Minato said as he returned his wallet to his inner pocket. "Then I'll just get the next one." He was about to retract his hand from the counter when he felt her much smaller fingers wrap around his palm. Striking honey-brown eyes softened as she blinked up at him from beneath the graceful arch of her long lashes.

"Don't look." Although she was leaning towards him with a suggestive smile, her voice was low and serious. "But we're being followed."

"How many?" Minato asked pretending to not know the answer. While he hadn't expected the others to have picked up on this, he was troubled that Tsunade hadn't noticed their tail sooner.

"I'm not sure." Tsunade replied coolly, the slightest crease of her eyebrow the only hint of tension in her body. Her gaze traced Minato's eyes as they shifted towards his right shoulder where Daisuke and the girls were admiring the intricate patterns on the young hostess' kimono. "I see. So you're using him as bait, huh? Do you think it wise?" She wondered as she read the blond jounin's intentions in his icy blue gaze.

"You said it yourself." Minato stated quietly, his elbow grazing hers slightly as he slipped his hand into his inner pocket to inspect the kunai he had strapped to his body. "If Lady Chiyo's poison was complete, then Daisuke would be dead by now or pretty close to it. The fact that he's still alive makes him an invaluable asset to her experiment. She will go to any lengths to recover him but cannot risk his body being damaged in anyway."

"So we let them grab him? Just like that?" Tsunade's powerful fist tightened on the polished counter as Minato turned to face her. "Hasn't he been through enough?"

"He's still alive isn't he?" Minato asked narrowing his eyes cruelly.

"I'll lead you to your suite now." The hotel manager said as he walked around the counter, holding up a bundle of keys with a broad grin. His smile faltered when he noticed the frostiness of Tsunade's gaze as she marched off to get the others. "I'm terribly sorry about the wait. I hope your girlfriend's not cross with you."

Heat flooded Minato's cheeks as he stumbled backwards, sputtering and stuttering foolishly at the bemused manager. Before he could correct the manager, his student had pulled him towards the staircase leading up to their room on the second floor. As they reached the door to their suite, Tsunade turned and handed the keys to Shizune with trembling hands, watching quietly as the petite brunette turned the keys in the lock before sliding the door open for the others to step through.

"Daisuke," Minato said placing a hand on the redhead's shoulder. The youth turned and gave him a quizzical look as Minato nudged him back towards the stairs. "We should probably give the girls some privacy to get settled in." When the redhead didn't pick up on his meaning Minato winked and gave him a kind smile. "I hear the hot springs around here do wonders for injuries and ailments."

"Namikaze." Tsunade growled. "A word." Before Minato could articulate a response or even protest, the blonde Sannin's fingers had already tightened around the front of his tracksuit, pulling him down until their faces were at eyelevel.

"Tsunade-hime what's the meaning of this?" Minato blurted out as she slammed him against the wall.

"Our orders were to return Daisuke to the Hidden Leaf immediately for treatment and assessment." She ground out through gritted teeth. "Sarutobi-sama was pretty clear when he said that he was sending a different team after Lady Chiyo. I don't know why you're so upset by this Chiyo character but I won't let you defy the Hokage's direct orders for your own ego." Minato's gaze hardened as he slowly freed his vest from her viselike grip.

He parted his lips to say something but abruptly froze and turned in time to dodge a kunai that had been hurled at him. Pulling out a pair of kunai from his inner pockets with one hand as he whipped around to grab a hold of Daisuke with the other, Minato positioned his body protectively in front of the redhead edging him out of harm's way.

A second assailant leapt through the nearby window, forcing Tsunade to twist and shield Daisuke's exposed side with her back. Minato calmly grabbed hold of the trembling redhead as he flickered them away from the shards of broken glass. As he delivered Daisuke to a safe corner of the corridor, he heard the painful crunching of bones as Tsunade punched the second assassin back through the window he had broken.

"Look out!" Minato called as he hurried to deflect the attack from Tsunade's blind spot as the first assailant lunged at her. A quick flick of his wrist deftly deflected the attack as Minato spun, catching the hostile with a well-placed kick to the gut. The man cried out in pain as he crashed against the opposite wall with a deafening roar. Before he could regain his bearings, Minato's hand was closing around his throat and hoisting him to his feet.

Tsunade suddenly appeared at his side, plunging a chakra-reinforced fist into his chest, completely shattering his ribcage. Blood sprayed out of the dying ninja's mouth prompting Minato to release him as he crumpled to the floor in a lifeless heap. Anger surged through the blond jounin's veins as he turned to give Tsunade a withering glare. His fury was short-lived as he took in the Sannin's trembling form. Her knees buckled beneath the weight of her body as she staggered forward, eyes transfixed on the blood-soaked sleeve of his tracksuit. Minato opened his arms and caught her before she could crash into a nearby table, gently lowering her down to the floor.

"Come Shizune." Minato called without looking up when he sensed Rin and Shizune watching them from the room door. Shizune's black eyes widened as she took in the bloodied corpse at their feet.

"S-so much b-b-blood." Tsunade's palms trembled on the floor beneath her as she slumped against the nearby wall. "I'm sorry I—can't—I'm so sorry…" Honey-colored eyes slowly turned dull and unseeing. Shizune flew to her master's side, gently pulling her into a tight embrace with one hand shielding her eyes as chakra flooded into her free palm. Minato's eyes widened as he watched the young girl calmly sedate the cowering Sannin with a practiced ease.

 _A medic with haemophobia?_

Minato's eyes traced Tsunade's to the broken shell of their attacker. Blue eyes narrowed suspiciously as they took in the copious amount of blood seeping into the carpet around the fallen shinobi. He calmly rose to his feet, unzipping the vest of his tracksuit which he held in front of the corpse, blocking him from Tsunade's gaze.

 _The precision of her attack shattered his ribcage, rupturing his internal organs completely. Given her phobia and experience with medical ninjutsu, there's no way she would have killed him in such a messy way…unless._

Minato turned to watch Shizune help her master to her feet and lead her towards their suite. When he was sure that Tsunade's back was completely to them, he turned to inspect the corpse, lifting the roof of its gaping mouth with the tip of his kunai. At first Minato stared quietly into the bloody crevice, blue eyes searching the overflowing orifice until they spotted the half-severed tongue peeking out from the back of the corpse's throat.

"Sensei, what happened?" Rin asked as she ran to help Shizune guide Tsunade inside.

"It's all my fault." Daisuke's shoulders were slumped as tears slowly streamed from his eyes. "I don't know why but I…I just froze. I couldn't move. If you hadn't…" Minato watched as he slowly pushed his body off the wall he had been leaning against, brown eyes ablaze with rage and indignation. "I shouldn't be here! It's because of me all these things are happening." As the redhead turned to flee Minato felt his body move as his fingers closed tightly around his upper arm, holding him firmly in place.

"Come with me."

Daisuke could only utter an awkward protest as Minato swept them down the staircase and through the crowd of bemused guests gathering in the lobby. They rounded a corner and burst through the door leading towards a small courtyard.

"Show me your hand." Minato said as he paused to light a nearby lantern hanging on the wall. Daisuke gave him a bemused look as he watched him dip the tip of his kunai into the lantern's flames before turning around to face him. "Hold out your hand please."

"You think they're using me to track you guys down?" Daisuke asked quietly as he obediently stretched out his hand for the blond to inspect.

"I don't think, I know." Minato replied confidently as he slowly but surely lowered the heated metal unto the redhead's exposed flesh. The youth bit down on his lower lip with enough force to draw blood as he creased his eyebrows in anguish.

At first the sizzle of burning flesh was the only sound that filled the air between them as Minato pressed the gleaming weapon against Daisuke's slender wrist. Minato's ears suddenly picked up the unmistakable hum of chakra as blue tendrils sprang out of the redhead's back. Daisuke cried out in shock as Minato approached him, his kunai poised to strike.

"Back then, when you claimed that this was all your fault," Minato paused as his eyes narrowed. "You knew. Didn't you?!" The redhead flinched at the harshness of his tone as shame bowed his head.

"Gomen…nasai." Daisuke's dry lips parted ever so slightly as he finally lifted his gaze to meet Minato's. "She kept talking about your chakra being sealed away and I wasn't sure—I didn't know if—"

"You didn't think we would survive an ambush did you?" Minato asked with a small smile. Daisuke blinked up at him as the blond let out a dry chuckle with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Even though they betrayed you, your allegiance still lies with Sunagakure."

"How…how long? How long have you known?"

"Since I caught you eavesdropping on us back at the cave." Minato replied as he wiped his kunai clean on his sleeve before stowing it away.

"I see." Daisuke said falling to his knees, brown eyes calmly meeting Minato's gaze.

"What are you doing?" Minato asked tilting his head slightly to the side as he watched Daisuke present his exposed neck to him.

"I betrayed you and remained silent when I knew that we were being followed, risking your lives even after you risked yours to save mine." His voice tinged with grief and shame. "I don't deserve to live."

Minato considered him quietly for several moments as bemusement gradually gave way to amusement. Without thinking, he reached out and placed his hands on either side of Daisuke's shoulders, guiding him to his feet. When the redhead gave him a befuddled look, Minato could only scratch the back of his neck with an awkward smile and a shrug of his shoulders.

"Are you hungry?" Minato asked. Daisuke was about to respond when the loud growl of his stomach interrupted. The blond's shoulders shook in amusement as he turned to lead the way. "This way. I heard that there's a shop nearby that serves the best dangos. We can bring some back for the girls."

They walked in silence for an eternity listening to the quiet sounds of their footsteps upon the brightly lit streets of Tanzaku Quarters. Minato could feel the redhead's gaze boring into his side as he waited patiently for the stream of questions he knew would come.

"I don't understand." Daisuke said at last as Minato handed him a menu to look over. "In the shinobi world, treachery is punishable by death."

"Indeed." Minato agreed calmly.

"So why? Why didn't you kill me back there? Or expose me in front of the others?" Daisuke asked his voice cracking with emotion as he slammed his fists against the table. "Why did you just brush it off? You're a shinobi so I know you've killed tons of enemies—even children younger than me. You barely know me so you can't have grown too attached to me to do me in."

"Oh?" Minato sighed arching an eyebrow slightly with a knowing smile.

"You're attached to me?"

"Somewhat." Minato said his gaze shifting towards the red locks dangling above Daisuke's ear. "You remind me a lot of someone I know."

"Is it Kushina Uzumaki?" Minato blinked at him, clearly taken aback as the redhead's eyes narrowed. "I overheard you and Tsunade say something about me being an Uzumaki and I heard Rin refer to someone by that name when Shizune mentioned it to her."

"What do you know about her?" Minato asked doing his best to avoid mentioning the redhead by name, slightly annoyed at the memories his former lover seemed to stir within him. He paused and closed his eyes enjoying the sumptuous aroma wafting in from the restaurant kitchen.

"Not much, I just know that you've both been very close since childhood." Daisuke replied with a small shrug.

"You're both more alike than you'll ever know." He felt the youth's eyes widen at this while he calmly pulled out the green frog-shaped wallet his sensei had given him for his birthday last year.

"She betrayed you as well?" Daisuke gasped.

"No, not at all." Minato chuckled. "And for the record, I don't think you are a traitor. In fact I think it's admirable that you waited this long to turn on us given how little you know about us."

"How then?" Daisuke wondered intrigued. "How are we alike?"

"You may not have realized this by now but even though you bear another family name, the same Uzumaki blood that runs through my friend runs through you. Long ago your ancestors' home was destroyed forcing them to flee to the farthest corners of the shinobi world desperate for sanctuary. As you've probably already guessed, your body possesses an unnaturally vital life-force that allows you to endure things that would have killed most normal shinobi. It's the reason Lady Chiyo sought you out to test her toxins."

"I see." Daisuke mumbled quietly to himself. "So the same thing happened to Kushina then? Konoha must have done the same thing to her, then? Right?"

"When we were kids, she immigrated to Konoha and attended the same class with me. Children and adults alike viewed her foreign birth unfavorably. They shunned and teased her mercilessly forcing her to become withdrawn and hot-tempered. Even then, she still sought their approval and acceptance above all else—vowing to win their respect by becoming Hokage. Some shinobi from Kumogakure kidnapped her one night and attempted to return to her village to experiment on her. Even though she had been shunned and ridiculed by its people, Konoha was the only home she had left and so she left trails of brilliant red hair for its shinobi to follow hoping that someone would care enough to notice her disappearance and even come to her aid."

"Did it work?" The shadows obscuring Daisuke's eyes darkened as he lowered his head once move. "Did anyone go to her aid?"

"Yes." Minato replied. "She was rescued and returned to Konohagakure." Minato replied without further elaboration. "Like you, she longed to return to her village even after all the pain its inhabitants had caused her. Like you, she left a trail of thread to guide her rescuers as her captors led her further and further away from the only home she had ever known."

"Aren't you concerned?" Daisuke wondered. "In your own analogy you're the bad guy whisking me away from my people and the only home I've ever known."

"Is that how you see it? Good versus evil? Light versus darkness?" Minato chuckled dryly. "I thought you of all people would appreciate the complexity of human nature to understand that life is hardly ever simple or convenient enough to paint things black and white."

"What are you talking about?" Daisuke asked narrowing his brown eyes.

"Surely you wouldn't call anyone who would knowingly inject another living being with deadly toxins good simply because you hail from the same nation." Minato replied. "Nor would you call someone who saves the poison's victim and destroys the facility where the toxin was being manufactured evil simply because he is from another country?"

"So it's all subjective, then?" Daisuke wondered as he turned to watch Minato's expression for a reaction. "Depending on where you stand a person's actions could either help or hurt you and isn't that how we determine good and evil for ourselves?" He pressed.

"Not exactly." Minato replied. "After all, aren't there some things we all—despite our different backgrounds, nationalities and ancestry—can agree are truly admirable or abhorrent? For instance rape and infanticide or altruism and clemency."

"I'm lost." Daisuke said with a weary sigh. "I can't tell if you're trying to recruit or alienate me."

"Neither can I." Minato admitted with a small shrug. "This is uncharted territory for me and I'm not quite certain of how to proceed—actually, I misspoke. I do know how to proceed but I'm not quite sure of how to do it."

"If you know what you have to do it, then you must do it." The redhead said stopping to block his path. "I'm serious. I've betrayed your trust. There's no way you can trust me after this. It's probably better if you kill me now and cut your losses."

"That's true but who's to say my way of thinking is right or that history will look kindly upon me when all this is said and done? If I kill you now I will have relieved myself of a lesser burden but endangered my entire nation in the future. With you dies the secrets to Chiyo's toxins."

"And if you don't kill me and I betray you again, you will surely die."

" _If_ you betray me again." Minato emphasized with a small smile.

"Exactly! If? You can't be sure that I will or that I won't? Surely you wouldn't trust me—"

"You were dealt a cruel hand. You've endured a pain far greater than anything I'll probably ever know or experience." Minato said abruptly placing a hand on the petite redhead's shoulder as he turned to face him. "It's why I know better than to take what happened tonight personally. You probably suspected that those two who attacked us would overpower us which was why you couldn't risk helping us. I get it—trust me I understand what you've been through almost as well as you do."

"So why then?" Daisuke asked unable to keep the emotion from his voice, small fists clenched tightly at his side as he glared defiantly up at Minato. "Why would you trust me and spare my life?"

"Back then I noticed that you didn't get emotional until you noticed how distraught Tsunade was. You've been around death so much that the sight of it doesn't faze you anymore. Given your past experiences, it's safe to say that there are few things that do. In fact, the only thing that seems capable of eliciting an emotion from you is fear itself." Daisuke's eyes widened as he averted his gaze without uttering a syllable in response. "Empathy is a powerful thing. It can change a person's entire way of thinking and doing things once they experience it."

"I hope I'm not interrupting what I imagine is a very touching moment." Minato had sensed Tsume Inuzuka's chakra following them long before she had decided to emerge from her hiding place within the shadows of a large water tank.

"Not at all Tsume-san." Minato replied turning to face her with an easy smile. "I'd expected you to join us sooner." Minato said lifting up the bags of takeout in his left hand as he leapt unto the windowsill of a second story window. "Where're the others?"

"Hizashi's off tailing that second attacker from before." Tsume replied as Minato held the window open for her to slip in. "You guys really did a number on him. I'll be shocked if he doesn't bleed out before Hyuga reaches him."

"I'm afraid I can't really take any credit for that." Minato replied with an awkward smile. "Tsunade-hime really is something."

"Well if she had more brains than muscles she wouldn't have killed his partner before we could interrogate him." Tsume grumbled as she turned to help Daisuke through the window.

"She didn't kill him." Minato replied. "He bit off his own tongue."

"Sure didn't look like that from where I was standing." Tsume replied. "But it makes sense."

"How long had they been tailing you?" Fugaku Uchiha asked as he emerged from their suite. Minato greeted him with a polite bow as the dark-haired clan lord stowed a large storage scroll in his flak jacket pocket.

"About two days, give or take." Minato replied. "Although I'm not quite sure where they came from." As he spoke, Minato noticed Fugaku's eyes shift towards Daisuke's petite form and moved to stand in front of him protectively. The Uchiha's eyes narrowed imperceptibly for a split second before he turned his attention towards Rin who was standing at the doorway watching them nervously. Minato wondered how long she had been standing there as he turned to give her a warm smile. His student returned his smile half-heartedly as she returned her attention towards the stern-faced clan lord.

"Where's Orochimaru-sama?" Minato wondered as he turned to scan the corridor for the Snake Sannin.

"He and Hyuga went after the other Suna-nin." Fugaku replied. "When you're done eating meet me downstairs in the bathhouse."

* * *

Minato could count on one hand the amount of times he had spoken to the notoriously aloof Uchiha clan lord. Excluding tonight's interaction, they had almost exclusively happened in the presence of others—mostly his friend Mikoto. Even though he was only four years older than Minato himself, the blond-haired jounin still found Fugaku Uchiha's presence more intimidating than Hiruzen-sama's. Although he had only heard about the Nidaime's demeanor and exploits from secondhand sources, Minato was always struck at how similar the Uchiha clan lord seemed to the younger Senju.

"Why didn't you kill him?" Fugaku asked by way of greeting as Minato joined him in the bathhouse changing room. "Surely you've noticed the chakra strings protruding from his back."

"I did." Minato replied quietly. "But I think we can trust him."

"Oh?" Fugaku said with an incredulous chuckle. When Minato said nothing in response, Fugaku turned to apprise him with a studious frown. "Namikaze, aren't you supposed to be some sort of genius?"

"Look I know it seems dumb but trust me, okay? He won't let me down." Fugaku paused to slip the hand he had been resting on the inside of his kimono into his left sleeve before responding.

"He's nothing like her." Fugaku said at last as he prepared to leave.

"This has nothing to do with her—" Minato snapped as he turned to level the Uchiha with an icy glare.

"Everything you do has something to do with her." Fugaku chuckled as he paused at the doorway. "Why would this be any different?"

"Because this is about him helping us catch Lady Chiyo." Minato replied suddenly indignant as he turned to face him.

"Indeed." Fugaku said his voice laced thickly with skepticism.

"For obvious reasons he is important to Lady Chiyo's experiment and must therefore be recovered unharmed." Minato explained. "Because this plan failed, we know that she will try again—who knows? She might even decide to retrieve him herself. And when she does, that's when we kill her."

"So there's an antidote for her toxin?" Fugaku asked sarcastically. Minato opened and closed his mouth several times to retort before thinking better of it. It was clear that the Uchiha clan lord's mind was already made up and nothing he or anyone would say was going to change it. "Truth be told Namikaze-san, I'm thoroughly disappointed in you. I thought that you of all people would be above falling to pieces at a lover's rejection."

"For the last time this isn't about Kushina leaving me at the altar! Okay?!"

"Isn't it though?" Fugaku challenged. "Tsume told me about your little speech earlier. You're smarter than this Minato! Surely you know better than to give your enemy the match he will use to set your house on fire."

"If that's the way you feel then we have nothing further to discuss." Minato said as he moved to walk away. But Fugaku stepped directly into his path blocking him from leaving.

"On the contrary, we have plenty." Fugaku hissed as his gaze lowered to Minato's exposed chest visible through the gap of his kimono. "Is it my imagination or is something suppressing your chakra? And don't deny it because Hizashi pointed it out earlier." When Minato said nothing, the dark-haired clan lord stepped forward, roughly pulling aside the blond's kimono to expose his chest.

"It's on my back. Above my tailbone." Minato mumbled sheepishly as Fugaku scanned his torso for the seal's markings. Fugaku straightened up after briefly inspecting the area Minato had indicated. The blond awkwardly diverted his gaze, eyebrows furrowed defiantly as he resisted the urge to explain himself.

"That settles it." Fugaku said as he came to stop directly in front of Minato. "Minato Namikaze, I am officially relieving you of command of this mission. In order to ensure your—"

"Fugaku-senpai, that won't be necessary." Minato said surrendering his wrists without resistance as the Uchiha clan lord prepared to weave a hand sign. The Uchiha considered him with a suspicious frown even deigning to activate his Sharingan to ensure that the blond wouldn't resort to any foul play.

"Very well," Fugaku said with a small sigh. "It seems that you are truly surrendering peacefully and while I am grateful—" Minato gasped as the waves of searing pain racked through his lithe frame forcing him to his knees with a pained cry. "I'll use this to keep you in line. Just in case." Minato cracked an eyelid open and shifted his gaze from his outstretched palms to his exposed torso. Angry red markings burned into his chest before vanishing as quickly as they had appeared. His feet felt heavy and numb as Fugaku guided him slowly to his feet.

"Time to get you back to Konoha." The Uchiha said with a firm nod.

"Was all this really necessary?" Minato wondered blinking vigorously as he struggled to regain his composure. "I mean if this jutsu is what I think it is then I know how draining it will be on you. Surely you wouldn't jeopardize your mission because of me." He taunted through clenched teeth.

"You are my mission." Minato swaggered dangerously at the Uchiha's words as a harrowing thought suddenly occurred to him. Fugaku's grip tightened around his waist as he steadied the blond before proceeding.

"You were never here to kill Chiyo were you?" Minato asked managing a weak chuckle as the pain of Fugaku's seal intensified. "Hiruzen-sama sent you to retrieve me the moment he realized that an Uzumaki was involved, didn't he."

"The fact that it took you this long to make that deduction proves that you _are_ emotionally compromised." Fugaku said, his tone low and somber. "Believe me, I derive no pleasure from making you suffer like this. And if it were up to me someone else would be here in my stead."

"I understand." Minato's voice drooped as his vision and stamina began to fade. He opened his mouth to say something else but his body finally succumbed to the Uchiha clan lord's ninjutsu plunging him into a deep restless slumber.

* * *

 **Sorry it took so long to update but work has been incredibly hectic for me. Thankfully I've finally recovered from my debilitating writer's block and expect to see this story to the end. I appreciate all your kind words of encouragement and your "favorites" and story alerts. You guys are the only reason I was encouraged to begin this story in the first place. I've tried as much as possible to keep the characters as faithful to their portrayals in the anime and manga. Please let me know if any of them seem OOC and I'll work on fixing this as soon as possible. Thanks again for taking the time to read this. Hope to see you all back again next week.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I apologize for the terribly late post. I fell asleep while writing this and thought that I had posted this earlier only to realize that I had not. I also realized too late that I posted this chapter without proofreading it so I apologize for the typos and grammatical errors. I've since proof read and revised my mistakes. The next few chapters will be from Tsunade's point of view. Thank you to everyone kind enough to review, heart and/or follow this story. You guys are the fuel that keeps me burning.**

 **Chapter Five**

"Can the Sharingan detect seals?" Minato wondered, light blue eyes studying the back of Fugaku Uchiha's head for a reaction. If the stoic Uchiha had heard him, he betrayed no signs detectable to Minato's gaze. "Although it's something that I've always wondered about, there's a very specific reason I'm asking now." Minato stated with a small frown. A half-glare was the only response his words elicited from the Sharingan-wielder.

"And what's that?" Tsume asked with an indulgent smile as she walked past. Minato's eyes narrowed as he took in the leash in her right hand. He slowly traced the rope backwards where it was attached to Daisuke's slender neck. The redhead's eyes were partially obscured by the shadow of his bangs as he walked quietly, hands bound behind his back. Beside him, Shizune walked quietly, dark eyes doing their best to avoid meeting the captive's dusty brown eyes. Minato felt a small smile tug at the corners of his lips when he took in the indignant sheen in his student's normally-warm brown eyes as she glared at the boisterous Inuzuka's mane of brown hair.

"Tsume-san," Minato said deliberately avoiding her question. He didn't miss the way Daisuke's head tilted up ever so slightly at the sound of his voice. "Is that really necessary?" When she gave him a quizzical frown, he shifted his gaze to the leash in her hands with a pointed frown.

"We'll soon be at war." The Inuzuka replied bluntly."We can't afford to let our guard down around our enemies, no matter how young."

"He's just a kid." Minato protested. "Besides everyone knows that the only way to survive in the shinobi world is by aligning with one's enemies." The spiky-haired blond didn't miss the subtle tilt of Fugaku Uchiha's head to the side as they continued walking.

"Fah! You sound just like that weakling husband I married." Tsume barked dismissively.

"If I recall correctly, your husband Nousagi-san almost single-handedly disqualified my team from the survival phase of the Chunin Exams by killing our charge."

"Have you no shame?" Tsume wondered with an incredulous arch of her eyebrow. "Admitting to almost losing to a weakling like that when you graduated top of your class at the academy."

"We must learn to face facts, no matter how inconvenient." Minato replied calmly.

"Those thunderclouds are getting bigger." Minato started at the sound of Tsunade's voice. She hadn't spoken since they had first set out that morning. In fact, she hadn't said a word to anyone other than Shizune since laying eyes on the bloody corpse the night before. Although they were several hours removed from the incident, it was very clear that she was still shaken by what had happened. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse and hollow from disuse, amber eyes dull and distant. Minato watched her with a twinge of sympathy before catching himself after recalling Jiraiya's stories of her quick temper. "Lord Fugaku, we should probably seek shelter."

"I'd prefer for us to seek shelter further up ahead." Fugaku replied bluntly. "Besides, traveling in the rain should help mask our scents from any pesky trackers that might be tailing us."

"Normally I wouldn't argue with that logic. However," Tsunade said pausing to glance at Daisuke from the side of her eye. "Given the fact that he only just barely survived the poison, I'd rather not risk any unnecessary exposure to the elements given his condition and weakened immune system."

"Tsume-san, what say you?" The Uchiha clan lord asked abruptly shifting his gaze to the Inuzuka. Although Tsume seemed just as taken aback as Minato and Tsunade were, she masked it by pretending to confer with her ninken before responding. "Are you still picking up their scents?"

"Yes _._ " She replied. "If we stop now, they'll only get further and the rain will wash away any hint of their scent making it impossible to track. Besides, Kuromaru would have said something if he had picked up anyone tailing us. As for the prisoner, I'm sure you can cure him of a little cold, Tsunade-hime."

"Did I stutter?! I said I'd rather not risk any unnecessary ailments with his weakened immune system." Tsunade snapped, biting her lower lip in anger to keep it from trembling.

"Namikaze-san?" Fugaku said turning to Minato. "What say you? Rest or keep going?"

"Why're you asking him?" Kuromaru wondered with a deep growl.

"You're a sensory-type ninja aren't you?" The tone of Fugaku's voice suggested that he already knew the answer to his own question. Regardless, Minato nodded in response as their eyes met. "I figured as much. My jutsu binds the subject to the caster allowing me to detect everything you feel. It's remarkable that even with your chakra sealed you're still able to pick up something my eyes missed."

"Why did you bind Minato-sensei, Fugaku-sama?" Rin wondered blinking slowly in confusion.

"I wasn't taunting you back then, Fugaku-san." Minato said with an apologetic sigh deliberately avoiding his student's question. "I was—"

"Warning me," Fugaku said. "I know now. I just hope it's not too late."

"What are you getting at?" Tsume asked clearly confused. "What warning? Too late for what?"

"We're walking into a trap." Fugaku stated matter-of-factly. The group abruptly came to a halt at the Uchiha's words. Rin and Shizune's eyes widened as they scanned the surrounding trees for any sign of hostiles hiding or approaching.

"What?!" Kuromaru barked. "Impossible."

"Nani?" His partner Tsume growled. "You're not making any sense, Fugaku-senpai! I thought we were supposed to meet up with Orochimaru-sama and Hizashi-san. What's all this nonsense about warnings and us walking into a trap?!" When Fugaku didn't respond, she hissed in annoyance before adding, "don't tell me you're going to listen to him of all people."

"Minato, how many?" Fugaku asked ignoring Tsume as he turned to face the blond. As he spoke his once-onyx irises adopted the sinister crimson sheen of his keke genkai. Minato opened his mouth to say something just as the ground beneath them began to tremble violently.

"Scatter!" Fugaku boomed against the shattering crash of thunder. An earsplitting roar followed as the earth parted beneath their feet leaving behind a great chasm where they once stood. Minato detected a falling branch above him and moved to get out of its path. However, his limbs were still bound by Fugaku's jutsu, hampering his speed significantly. He lifted his hands to shield himself as he braced his body for the impact that never came. When he opened his eyes, he was laying sideways, ears ringing as something warm and sticky clung to his cheeks. He opened his mouth to call out to Rin and the others but instantly choked on the cloud of dust rising around him.

From the corner of his eye he noticed the massive trunk of a tree spinning violently in a sweeping arch. The blonde Sannin let out a feral roar as she hurled the fallen tree at Tsume. Kuromaru grabbed his partner's sleeve, dragging her out of harm's way before the tree could land, crushing the ground where she had been standing mere seconds before. Beside him, Minato noticed Shizune gingerly guiding an unconscious Daisuke into a sitting position before awkwardly pulling him away from the surrounding rubble. He became vaguely aware of someone shaking his shoulder and turned to find Rin mouthing something at him.

"Where's Fugaku-senpai?" Minato wondered wide-eyed. Rin mouthed a response but her lips moved too quickly for Minato to read. Balling his fists with an annoyed growl, Minato slowly but surely fought his way to his feet. Swaggering dangerously, his light blue eyes scoured the dust-colored fog for any sign of the onyx-eyed clan lord. Rin pulled his sleeve down as she stood on tiptoe, pressing a chakra-laden palm to his bleeding cheek. Minato moved her hands to his ears as the ringing sound crescendoed to an unbearable pitch.

 _Better, sensei?_ Rin mouthed at him. Minato felt his heart sink as a harrowing realization slowly sank in.

 _Fugaku!_ The Uchiha's words from before rang in Minato's mind as he doubled his efforts to reach him. _His ears must have been damaged by the blast. If our bodies are still linked, that must mean that he's still alive._

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune's voice rang out as a blinding flash of lightening illuminated the battlefield. As she cried out, the blonde Senju let out another wild roar as she plunged a chakra-reinforced fist into the ground beneath her feet. Dust and debris flew up in the air around them as they scrambled to escape the splintering crater beneath them.

From the corner of his eye, Minato felt someone snatch Shizune out of harm's way as he pulled Rin to safety. Relief flooded him when he turned to find the Uchiha clan lord gently depositing Daisuke and Shizune on the ground beside him.

"Fugaku-senpai, your ears." Minato mouthed to the dazed Uchiha as he turned to face him.

The Uchiha turned away, Sharingan trained on the spinning silhouettes of Tsume and Kuromaru's signature attack. Minato grabbed Rin's arm to get her attention before pointing to Fugaku's injured ear and then to his own.

"I don't understand sensei, what's going on?"

"Our senses are linked." Minato explained slowly. "Any injuries either of us suffer affect the both of us. Right now neither of us can hear because Fugaku-senpai's ears are damaged. Once you heal them, my hearing should return."

"There's no time for that." Fugaku growled impatiently waving Rin's hands away as she prepared to heal him. "Tsume and Kuromaru are no match for her. They're barely holding it together against her but they won't last long. We need to help them."

"I don't understand," Shizune said trembling as she fell to her knees, unwilling to believe the sight before her eyes. "Why did Lady Tsunade—"

"She's not in control of her actions." Fugaku said, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Her chakra is undisturbed so she can't be under a genjutsu."

"Fugaku-senpai," Minato said pulling Fugaku aside with an urgent look. "I need you to undo your jutsu." Fugaku complied without protest as their eyes met.

"How long did you know about it?" He wondered.

"Not soon enough." Minato replied as he pressed his palms together. "I need you and Tsume to buy me enough time."

"How much time do you need?" Fugaku wondered as he pulled out several storage scrolls from his flak jacket pockets. Various ninja tools and weapons emerged from the scrolls with a large puff of smoke.

"I'm not sure." Minato admitted as he directed his gaze towards the darkening clouds above as it began to drizzle.

"Are you planning to activate the honored sage mode?" Fugaku wondered.

"No." Minato replied as he unfurled a small storage scroll of his own. As they spoke, a violent earthquake sent them crashing to the ground as Tsunade's heels collided with the forest floor.

"Why the hell not?!" Fugaku asked grabbing the front of his shirt. "With your chakra sealed away do you really think you can take her with only taijutsu?"

"No." Minato admitted. "But even if I wasn't lousy at senjutsu, it would still take far too long to activate it for it to offer any strategic advantage. It's a miracle Tsume and Kuromaru have survived this long against her. I need you to buy me enough time to prepare a quick and decisive strike." Fugaku was about to say something but stopped when he noticed how intently Minato was watching the sky.

"So that's your plan, huh?" Fugaku said with a small smile as he rose to his feet. "This should speed things up a bit! Fire Style: Heaven's Flame!" Two majestic flame wyverns erupted from Fugaku's mouth, charging towards Tsunade in a dizzying circle. The Senju heiress easily ducked out of the wyverns' way as the jutsu circled her and her opponent. Unable to connect with its mark, the jutsu disappeared into a cloud of steam which rose to join the gathering thunderclouds above. "Alright, I'll hold her off for as long as I can." The Uchiha slammed his palm to the ground as a summoning formula appeared at his feet.

"Wait, I don't understand." Rin said not bothering to hide the urgency in her voice. "How on earth are you planning to subdue her when you can't cast any seals or even weave any hand signs?" As she spoke, Minato rolled up his sleeve, carefully slicing his forearm with a kunai before lowering it to his side. Rin gasped and rushed to his side, arms glowing with healing chakra. Her sensei stopped her with one arm as a giant hawk appeared with a cloud of smoke.

"You called Lord Fugaku?" The hawk greeted the Uchiha with a subservient bow.

"Get them to safety, Takamaru." The Uchiha said grabbing Shizune by the collar of her kimono with one arm and handing her over to his summoning. The giant hawk lowered its head to the ground allowing the Sannin's attendant to land on its back.

"Rin, get on." Minato said not bothering to hide the urgency in his voice as he moved his bleeding arm out of his student's grasp. "Quickly!" The brunette reluctantly climbed unto the hawk's back as the blond turned away. Fugaku helped Daisuke unto the hawk's back before handing Takamaru the end of the redhead's leash with a meaningful look.

"Fly Takamaru!" Fugaku ordered. The hawk let out a loud screech as it spread its wings, rising into the sky with a mighty flap. Minato watched as Rin's tear-stained eyes grew further and further away before disappearing into the ominous grey sky.

"Hold on Tsume-san! We're coming." Minato called out as Fugaku gathered his weapons into a long chakra-infused chain which began spinning protectively around him.

 _He's switching to kenjutsu since his preferred fire-style jutsus will be ineffective in this weather. That fire style jutsu earlier seemed to have sped up the storm's progress._ Minato noted with a small frown as Fugaku charged into battle. The familiar sickening sound of crunching of bones filled the air around them as Tsume Inuzuka crashed into a nearby tree trunk shattering it in two. Minato pulled her out in time to avoid getting crushed by the falling tree, squatting to observe her with worried eyes.

"Don't look at me like that." Tsume's voice was low and strained as blood oozed out her lips with each syllable. "It's going to take more than that to finish me off. I promised my little girl, Hana, that I'd make it home for her birthday party and I never go back on my word!" Kuromaru flew to her side, eyes narrowed in anger and exhaustion as he appraised his partner's condition. Satisfied that the Inuzuka was in no immediate danger, the ninken turned his fury upon Minato.

"Given your calm demeanor, I can only imagine that you somehow foresaw this."

"I'm sorry. My warning would have been less cryptic if I had guessed the seal's subject in time." Minato said with an apologetic bow.

"Well, what are you just standing around for?" Tsume barked weakly when she noticed Minato. "Fugaku's specialty is genjutsu and chakra suppression. He's no match for that big-breasted beast by himself."

Minato's eyes lit up as another blinding flash of lightning illuminated the churning grey skies above them. The hairs on his arms and on the back of his neck spiked up as the static energy around him became palpable. He pressed his bleeding palm unto the small storage scroll he had pulled out before and felt a surge of chakra emerge with a dull puff of smoke.

"Nani?" Kuromaru's eyes narrowed as he took in Minato's cackling chakra-laden palm. "Ah, so you stored some of your chakra inside that summoning scroll allowing you to use it in the event that you were ever low on or out of chakra." Minato's eyes narrowed into deadly slits as he straightened up into an offensive stance. Ignoring the high-pitched squeal of lightning growing around him, Minato watched Fugaku and Tsunade's battle, tracing the blonde's movements with a razor focus. After discerning a pattern in her movements and attacks he quickly devised an opening for his strike and flew into action.

Lightning surged through his body spurring his feet forward at an ungodly speed even he would have been unable to attain on his own. He closed his eyes as he launched forward, body bracing for the inevitable impact. Even before the collision, he knew his hand had found its mark. Electric current spiked dangerously around him enveloping their bodies in a massive explosion as the earth shook beneath them. Minato felt the corrupting energy disintegrate in Tsunade's body as he knelt down to catch her falling form in his outstretched hands.

At first, the gentle patter of rainfall filled the air around them as the soothing smell of damp earth replaced the metallic odor of blood. Minato slowly scooped the unconscious Sannin into his arms as he rose to his feet. He turned towards the spot where he had last seen Fugaku but noticed that he had flown to Tsume's side and was gingerly guiding her body unto Kuromaru's back. He heard the screech of Takamaru's call as the hawk circled the skies above them. Just as Minato raised his hand to wave the bird down, a sudden wave of nausea forced him to his knees. He dropped Tsunade to the ground, gasping and wheezing as he waited for the earth to stop spinning. His vision blurred and spun out of focus as a vaguely familiar sensation flooded his veins.

It took him several moments to realize that he had collapsed on top of Tsunade's limp form. And even then, his body refused to cooperate when he tried to move off her. Exhaustion anchored his limbs to his side as light blue eyes watched the raindrops slide down the bridge of his nose before pooling beneath him. A chilly breeze drifted over them as a fierce shiver wracked his lithe frame. Although his brain screamed at him to rise up and seek shelter from the elements, his mind was far too fuddled to maintain a coherent thought. Words and faces scrambled after each other in rapid succession, each dissipating the moment he began to make sense of them. For a split second, he forgot who he was and where they were as a pair of small blue sandals entered his line of sight. He watched as the sandals hurried to his side and heard a strangely familiar voice calling out to him as he was turned on his side.

"Sensei! Sensei!" He wanted to call out to Rin to say something comforting as he gave her that reassuring smile she seemed so fond of. But his mouth refused to move as his head rolled over to the side, light blue eyes staring hazily up at the inky sky as sheets of chilly rain poured down from the heavens.

* * *

The first thing Minato noticed when he came to after what felt like several hours was that he was not alone. Blond eyebrows creased slightly as he tried to discern the person's identity through their chakra signature alone. Although his eyes were closed, he could feel the pervasive darkness of the underground cavern as he listened intently to the figure's breathing. While he couldn't quite tell if the person had noticed him stirring earlier, something about this presence seemed strangely familiar and foreboding at the same time.

"Who are you?" Minato asked quietly. When there was no response, Minato finally forced his eyelids apart, moving to lean his weight on his elbows as he waited for his vision to adjust to the darkness. At first, only piercing darkness greeted him as he turned towards the area where he had detected the figure earlier. Blue eyes widened as a dark silhouette slowly but surely emerged from the shadows. The figure lifted its hand and Minato quickly felt exposed without the familiar feel of his kunai strapped to his person. The tension in his shoulders quickly dissolved when he noticed the figure press its finger to its mouth instead as it turned back towards the doorway.

"It must have been remotely activated because Hizashi-kun didn't detect any other presence in the forest that night." Even behind closed doors, Minato could still recognize Orochimaru's silky voice as the Snake Sannin walked down the corridor. He felt two others accompanying him as he watched the figure press its body against the door, listening intently to their muffled voices.

"And you're sure of that?" Fugaku asked with a concerned frown.

"Positive." He heard Hizashi replied stiffly. "I thought perhaps you were all under some elaborate genjutsu when we noticed you fighting yourselves."

"Well, at least Namikaze-san's chakra network seems to have been restored." Fugaku said after a lengthy pause. "If it hadn't been for him, we all would have been dead."

"Oh?" Orochimaru said softly. "How so?"

"He knew that the enemy had planted a seal on one of us and was trying to warn me about it. Speaking of the enemy, were you both able to track down that other shinobi that attacked them at the hotel that night?"

"We were only able to find his body." Orochimaru replied. "At least what was left of it."

"What do you mean?" Fugaku asked clearly confused.

"We know he was injured, but when we found him it was almost as if his body was in the process of disintegrating from the inside." Hizashi replied.

"It looked as if all of his internal organs were ruptured at the same time."

"Tsunade's punches tend to have that effect on people." Orochimaru stated with a chuckle.

"Not really." Fugaku countered. "Tsume took one of her punches to the gut—just like those assassins and she's still alive. As far as we can tell none of her organs have ruptured and barring some freak accident, she should make a full recovery."

"Hmm, quite the mystery indeed." Something in the Snake Sannin's voice sent a shiver of apprehension down Minato's spine.

"Anyways, what do we do now?" Hizashi wondered. "If Princess Tsunade herself could have been compromised, we can't risk anyone getting back to Konohagakure until we're sure that none of us have been interfered with." There was a long uncomfortable pause as Minato turned his attention towards the figure once more. It shouldn't have been this difficult for him to discern the figure's gender at this range. Normally, he was able to detect a person's gender miles away and was even in the process of determining their clan from their chakra signature alone.

"Might I ask how exactly Minato-kun was able to detect this puppet-master seal on Princess Tsunade, when your Sharingan was unable to?" Minato didn't realize that he had been holding his breath until the Snake Sannin spoke again, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group.

"What exactly are you implying?" Fugaku asked at length. Even though he couldn't see him, Minato could imagine the scowl lining the Uchiha's features as he stared down the Snake Sannin.

"Humor me," Orochimaru said with a small chuckle. "But isn't the Sharingan capable of detecting disruptions in a person's chakra network?" Minato clenched his fists and bit back an angry growl.

"What's your point?" Fugaku asked intentionally ignoring the Sannin's question altogether.

"You and Hizashi were able to detect the disturbance in Minato-kun's chakra signature instantly, yet you were unable to notice Tsunade's corruption?"

"What exactly are you implying?" Minato felt a touch of gratitude as he noted the clipped edge to the Uchiha clan lord's normally-stoic tone.

"Jiraiya is always going on about how brilliant Minato-kun is," Orochimaru replied quietly. "And if you think about it, this really is rather ingenious."

"There's no way he could have cast the puppet master jutsu." Hizashi scoffed dismissively. "His chakra was sealed away prior to Tsunade's…attack. He'd have to have placed it on her weeks ago and by all accounts this mission is their first direct encounter."

"All I'm saying is that Minato-kun isn't one to give up easily on something once he sets his mind to it." The Snake Sannin countered. "He also isn't one to do anything without reason. Look at the Uzumaki girl, he pursued and seduced her until she finally revealed her clan's most secret techniques to him."

"That's quite enough of that." The figure declared in a low unfamiliar voice as it noticed Minato struggling to get out of bed. The room spun out of focus as he collapsed to the floor, his breath coming out in harsh ragged rasps as he fought to regain his bearings. He felt the figure slowly approach him before stopping mere feet away to consider him with an inquisitive tilt of its head.

"What on earth do you think you're playing at?" Minato barked glaring daggers at the figure. His eyes narrowed painfully as an uncomfortable pulse of foreign energy surged through his torso, bending him forward.

"Save your strength." The intruder cooed. "Trust me, you're going to need it."

"Hel-!" Minato's eyes widened as his voice caught suddenly in his throat. Long fingers grasped desperately at his slender neck as a stabbing pain ripped through his larynx.

"I wouldn't call out if I were you." There was something sinister about the soft waifish timbre of the figure's voice as he stroked soothing circles down Minato's back.

"Oh? Why not?" Minato managed through gritted teeth.

"My, my such spirit." The figure taunted with a half-impressed chuckle. "I certainly hope it holds up once I'm through with you."

"My body…what have you—?"

"I want to know how you did it." The figure said abruptly cutting him off as he settled down unto a chair facing his bed. Although he could see the sheen of the stranger's sclera, he couldn't quite make out the color of his eyes. "How did you detect my seal?"

"I see you've stolen another body," Minato noted with a pained frown abruptly changing the subject as he observed the slightest hint of red in the figure's hair. "Did you really think that you would be safe approaching me in his body?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did" The villain replied with a soft chuckle. "Would you like to prove me wrong?"

"Some other time." Minato replied quietly, doing his best to school his expression into an inscrutable mask. The puppeteer gave no hint that his efforts to feign indifference were convincing or not.

"You haven't answered my question." The puppeteer noted with an impatient sigh. "How did you detect my jutsu's seal?"

"Sorry, but you'd have better luck interrogating a brick wall." Minato shot back defiantly.

"I guess we'll just have to see about that." The puppeteer threatened as Daisuke's body rose and turned to leave. He abruptly paused at the doorway at the last moment, skinny hands poised over the doorknob before turning to give him a warning look. "Come to the western outskirt of the forest at midnight or the child dies. You've seen what I can do, you know the suffering I'm capable of inflicting. Do. Not. Test. Me."

"If it's just me that you want then leave him out of this." Minato barked rising to his feet. An invisible force froze him in place as he met Daisuke's glassy-eyed stare. His tone softened and he lowered his gaze to his feet unable to quite meet the redhead's eyes anymore. "Please."

"Come to me and I will spare the child." The puppeteer said softly as Daisuke pressed his index and middle fingers together, he paused to add "you have my word" before vanishing with a cloud of smoke.

For the longest moment, Minato sat motionless at the edge of his bed, eyes staring at the spot where Daisuke's body had been standing mere moments ago. Sweat dripped down the side of his forehead as a plan gradually began to take shape in his mind. Without thinking, Minato slid out of bed, left hand reaching for his traveling bag as his right pulled out a blank scroll from the front pocket of his backpack.

Hunched over the dancing flame of a dying candle he had pulled from a nearby drawer, Minato carefully traced the final character of the seal formula unto the blank scroll before finally straightening up to inspect his handiwork. He flattened the scroll unto his bed as he lifted the candle with his good hand, eyes studying the formula carefully.

All was still in the vast underground chamber. Judging by the spiral patterns on the ceilings and sparse furniture they were in one of Orochimaru's many safe houses littered throughout the Land of Fire. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the gleaming face of his wristwatch peeking out of his tracksuit pocket.

Eleven forty-two.

Wincing slightly, he lifted the hem of his nightshirt until it was over his head before gently setting it aside. Turning his attention to the scroll on his lap, Minato lifted it up, carefully pressing the scribbled text to his exposed chest. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as the cool ink of the jutsu formula came in touch with his still-smarting skin. Minato carefully wrapped the scroll around his body pressing the tome until the formula was transferred unto his skin. After confirming that the formula was completely pasted on his skin, Minato pressed his hands together before weaving a complex pattern of hand signs as he channeled chakra to his heart. A stinging pain enveloped his body as the seal gradually faded into his skin.

Satisfied, Minato finally rose to his feet just as the first chimes of midnight echoed through the gloomy dungeon. He carefully tiptoed towards the door, stepping over the threshold without any fear or hesitation as he prepared for his date with destiny.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks so much Sannara and all you others who have been kind enough to leave your reviews. You're the fuel that keeps the light of inspiration burning.**

 **Chapter Six**

Tsunade roused from her slumber with a heaving breath, sweat clinging to her trembling form as her honey-brown eyes adjusted to the piercing darkness of the vast cavern. A moment passed with only her harsh gasps filling the space around her as she waited for the vivid images from her nightmare to inevitably fade. She started slightly at the sound of a low sigh from the foot of her bed and leaned over to inspect the source of the sound. A deceptively small hand shakily reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair clinging to her cheek away as she took in the silhouette of her petite apprentice snuggled on the floor. Kicking off the threadbare sheets covering her, the blonde Sannin carefully rose, picking a path quietly around her snoozing student as she felt her way towards the door.

She felt a twinge of envy as she slowly turned to check on Shizune's peaceful features to confirm that she hadn't woken her roommate. Satisfied that the medic-in-training was fast asleep, Tsunade gently shut the door behind her as she carefully stepped into the chilly corridor of Orochimaru's safe house. Although this was the first time that she had been in this particular safe house, she couldn't help but admire her fellow Sannin's resourcefulness as she made her way through the labyrinth of hallways and corridors.

The walls were hard and cold, the ceiling bare save for an intricate network of spirals carved into its dark purple surface. Several of the rooms she passed by were secured by paper seals taped carefully over the locks. The few rooms that were unlocked housed provisions and spare cots and mattresses with a few bedrooms sprinkled here and there for good measure. She hadn't realized that she had paused to admire the snake carving on a nearby torch until she sensed a familiar presence approaching from the corner of the corridor.

"Oh, it's you." Even in the shadows of the dimly lit corridor, Fugaku Uchiha's frown lines were evident to the medic Sannin as she greeted him with a polite bow. He turned to move past her, lantern raised high above his head before doubling back with a thoughtful frown. "You haven't seen Namikaze-san have you?"

"I just woke up." Tsunade confessed slightly taken aback. "I'm a little lost and not quite sure which room he's in. Have you tried—"

"Yes." The Uchiha snapped with a frustrated sigh before flashing her an apologetic look.

"He probably stepped out for some fresh air." Tsunade suggested before adding. "To be honest, I was about to do the same thing myself." Fugaku moved slightly to the side allowing her to walk past him before turning to follow her down the path he had just come from. They walked in silence for several minutes listening to the soft tinkling and stirring of the cavern's snoozing inhabitants. A light breeze of earthy night air beckoned them further as they neared the cave's entrance on the far north quadrant.

Tsunade felt Fugaku's footsteps soften and he fell further behind her as they neared the half-open door leading to Orochimaru's study. A ghoulish green glow crept into the hallway from the gap in the laboratory door as the gurgling and hissing of chemicals reached them. Not wanting to disturb her former teammate, the Senju heiress reached out for the door's handle but was startled by the silky chuckle of the Snake Sannin.

"Well?" Orochimaru asked not bothering to keep the smugness from his voice as he scribbled something into his notebook. "Any luck finding our blond compatriot, Fugaku-sama?"

"We're going to check outside."

"It's no use." Hizashi announced in a clipped tone as he reentered the cave. They watched as he paused to secure the heavy double doors behind him, his forehead creased in annoyance. "I've scanned the entire area twice. He's long gone."

"Any idea where he went?" Fugaku wondered.

"West." Kuromaru offered as he walked past Hizashi. "But his scent faded beyond ten miles so I couldn't tell you where he went after that."

"I don't understand," Tsunade said turning from the ninken to the Hyuga. "What's going on? Why is Namikaze-san missing?"

"He's not the only one that's missing," Orochimaru said with a light chuckle as he turned to address his former teammate with a smirk. "If you had allowed me to kill him when you first arrived none of this would have happened."

"I'm inclined to agree." Kuromaru said with a frustrated growl.

"Kill who? Namikaze-san?!" Tsunade's eyes widened in shock as she turned to regard her teammate with a feral snarl. "Perhaps you've forgotten but that's Jiraiya's student!"

"Ah, yes the vaunted child of prophecy." Orochimaru noted with a sarcastic sigh.

"He wasn't talking about Minato, Tsunade-hime." Hizashi explained. "He was referring to the Uzumaki boy."

"He's gone too?!" An uncomfortable silence greeted her words as she turned from face to face hoping that someone would correct her mistaken assumption. A tremor shook her knees as the harrowing realization of Minato's betrayal sank in. She steadied herself against a nearby wall as Fugaku abruptly cleared his voice to rally the troops.

"He had to have waited for us to fall asleep so they can't have gone far." The Uchiha declared.

"You're forgetting who we're dealing with here." Hizashi said grimly. "Namikaze-san's mastery of the Flying Raijin Jutsu is unmatched even by Nidaime-sama. He could easily have teleported them to any one of his markers scattered all over the continent."

"He's right." Kuromaru stated. "Which would explain why their trail abruptly disappeared."

"You're forgetting that his chakra network had been sealed for over three weeks now." Fugaku noted. "Even the Sage of Six Paths could not have recovered his complete arsenal of jutsu so quickly."

"Assuming that his chakra was actually sealed all this time." Orochimaru countered with a skeptical laugh. "Minato-kun is a master strategist—he never does anything without reason."

"Impossible." Hizashi scoffed. "Even if he somehow managed to suppress his chakra my Byakugan would have easily detected this."

"He's right." Fugaku added. "Between my Sharingan and his Byakugan his rouse would have been easily detected."

"Do not misunderstand me Fugaku-sama," Orochimaru said with a silky bow. "I am not implying that your eyes were deceived. I'm merely suggesting that we've all been taken by Minato-kun's charms."

"But what could he stand to gain by betraying Konohagakure?" Tsunade wondered as a small finger stroked her jaw distractedly. "If he was that worried about the Uzumaki wouldn't it have been better for him to plead his case directly to Sandaime-sama? Hiruzen-sama is as wise as he is compassionate. Surely Minato recognizes his esteem in the Hokage's eyes." From the corner of her eye, Tsunade noticed the imperceptible flicker of shadow over Orochimaru's otherwise vacant expression but pretended to have missed it.

"This is no time to be lollygagging about!" Kuromaru barked. "We need to get Tsume-sama back to the village for treatment and we need to track down that wayward blond before he gets beyond our reach—if he isn't already."

"Kuromaru's right." Fugaku said. "We'll split up into two teams. Hizashi, Kuromaru and I will go after Daisuke and Minato."

"No." Orochimaru said catching them all by surprise. The deferential tone he often adopted with the Uchiha clan lord had been replaced by something hard and cold. "I will lead the Minato-retrieval team while you return to the village with Tsunade-hime and the others."

"I'm coming too." Tsunade declared. "I can heal Tsume in a jiffy and catch up with you. It's my fault all this happened in the first place. If I hadn't attacked—"

"The puppet master's seal completely suppresses the subject's thoughts and willpower turning them into a mindless tool in the hands of the caster." Hizashi said offering her a sympathetic smile. "Once cast the only effective counter is to kill the caster. There's no way you or anyone could have predicted that he would used that jutsu on you."

"No please! You've got it all wrong!" Rin's voice echoed as she emerged from her hiding place, alarmed and breathless. "Sensei didn't run away with Daisuke-chan. They were both kidnapped."

"Right." Kuromaru sighed as he and Orochimaru turned to leave. Tsunade felt her body move seemingly of its own accord and plant itself directly in front of them blocking their path.

"She's right." Honey-brown eyes gleamed fiercely as she held her comrades' gazes. "His chakra was sealed until very recently when he took me down. Don't forget, my grandmother was an Uzumaki so I know a fair bit about seals."

"No offense Tsunade but Minato-kun has forgotten more about seals than you'll ever know." It took every ounce of the blonde's willpower to not bury her fist inside her teammate's pale visage. She settled for giving him a baleful glare that had cowed many others before him. Orochimaru remained unfazed. "Even if his chakra was sealed away there are ways around this. For instance, he could have drawn natural energy to channel senjutsu."

"But my Byakugan would have still detected it." Hizashi countered.

"Look!" Rin said holding up a cream scroll with smeared markings. "This was on his bed. The formula—"

"This isn't getting us anywhere!" Fugaku moved past her abruptly cutting her off as he marched away, fingers clenched tightly at his side. Kuromaru followed after him, sprinting towards his partner's room before disappearing inside. Orochimaru returned to his study without so much as a backward glance at either kunoichi leaving Hizashi standing awkwardly between them.

"Just, go." Tsunade said a blonde eyebrow trembling impatiently as the Hyuga shuffled his feet uncertainly, eyes darting from them to the corridor behind them as he considered the most respectful way to make his escape. He hurried away at her dismissal bristling slightly at her curt tone but accepting it nonetheless. Tsunade's shoulders trembled violently as her knuckles tightened menacingly. She began to walk away, the sound of her high heels clacking loudly beneath her before a soft whimper halted her in her tracks. She slowly turned to glance over her shoulder and felt a stab of anger at the sight of the petite brunette sniveling into her hand.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"Although her voice was dangerously low she could tell that Rin had heard her as she jumped slightly. Thankfully the sobbing had stopped but that didn't stop the anger shaking Tsunade as she turned to face her. "Rin, was it? I asked you a question!"

"I'm sorry!" The girl gasped backing away from her with trembling legs. "I didn't mean to—It's just that I don't know what to do. I know that sensei didn't run away—he would never betray us…or leave me behind."

"If crying is your first instinct…" Tsunade trailed off as she turned away biting her tongue. She remembered Jiraiya's constant criticism of her bluntness and infamously quick temper. Her shoulders shook as she drove her fist gently into the wall, envisioning the message she was trying to relay in kinder terms. Unable to discern a gentler method, Tsunade turned and grabbed a fistful of the girl's blouse, lifting her trembling form off her feet as she drove her against the wall. "If your first instinct is to break down and sob when things fall apart then your sensei has failed you and have no business calling yourself a kunoichi!"

Tsunade noted the shock in the girl's features with a satisfied grunt as she roughly released her. It was evident from the girl's reaction that this was the first time anyone had bothered to point this out to her. Tsunade balled her fists up in annoyance as she grit her teeth painfully together. Unfortunately, this was a reality she was all too familiar with. It was the main reason that she opposed the three-man genin squad system. A shinobi's development could not fully be entrusted to a single individual. She herself was proof of this having drawn from her experiences working with a myriad of talented shinobi over the years.

"I'm sorry." The girl repeated weakly tiny hands hugging her small shoulders protectively as she lowered her gaze to her feet.

"Someone always gets left behind. Overlooked. Dismissed as a lost cause." Tsunade said quietly with a sympathetic smile. "With my team it was Jiraiya. He was never supposed to amount to anything—unlike Orochimaru and I. It took me years to realize how tough it must have been to be stuck on the same squad with the both of us. The prodigy and the Shodai's heir. Tell me, who are the other members of your genin squad?"

Rin blinked up at the blonde for several moments in confusion as the buxom Sannin placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Slowly but surely, like the vicious anger that had been reflected in the Sannin's eyes, Rin felt her fear and helplessness dissipate. Before her a living legend stood prepared, ready to hear her out.

"O-Obito Uchiha…and…Kakashi Hatake."

"Sakumo's kid huh?" Tsunade chuckled. "Interesting. Very interesting. Between him and the Uchiha it's no wonder your sensei has neglected you. Tell me, how did he choose you over the other two for this mission?"

"I'm not sure." Rin admitted weakly. "Truth be told…I was planning on asking him to bring me along but I could never find the right time."

"I see." Tsunade observed with a knowing smile. "A true sensei anticipates their students' needs even before the student becomes aware of them. He probably figured that you wanted to come along before you even did."

"And here I thought…." Rin paused as a small smile spread across her lips. "I thought the only reason he brought me along was because I would obey his orders without question."

"That might have been one of the reasons," Tsunade admitted with a small nod. "But, if Jiraiya is to be believed, Minato is a very careful and thorough individual. Every act, every word, every decision is made and done with a specific goal in mind. He brought you along for a very specific purpose. Can you guess what it was?" Rin thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Well I barely know the man so this is all speculation at this point," Tsunade shrugged. "But the first time I met him he directly appealed to my pride as a medic-nin because he wanted me to heal—" The Sannin's eyes widened as she turned and took off in the direction the others had disappeared. "Tsume! I completely forgot about Tsume!"

"Took you long enough!" Tsume growled as Tsunade barged into her room sweaty and out of breath. She watched as the blonde leaned against the doorframe for a brief second to catch her breath.

"Lie still! And stop talking so much!" Tsunade snapped as she approached the irate kunoichi with chakra-laden palms. The Sannin paused as she scanned the room briefly for the nin-ken's presence. "Where's that out-spoken runt of yours anyways? It looked like he was headed here to check on you?"

"They already left if that's what you're really asking." Tsume huffed as she shifted into a more comfortable position on her back. "Just patch me up as quickly as you can. Fugaku-sama already told me everything so the sooner we leave this creepy place the better."

"Are you just going to stand there?" Tsunade asked without turning around to address Rin who had been watching quietly from the doorway. The little girl blinked for a moment uncertain of how to react or respond. Tsunade turned towards her with a firm look. "You're a medic-nin are you not?" The brunette nodded. Tsunade wordlessly stepped away from Tsume's bedside crossing her arms as she watched Rin expectantly.

A spark of realization brightened the girl's features as she quietly made her way towards the waiting patient who was watching the exchange apprehensively. As Rin reached her bedside, Tsume turned towards Tsunade with a questioning frown that the blonde pretended not to notice. Healing chakra brightened the girl's palms as she directed them over the patient's body.

"Shizune was able to patch her up well but her organs are still bruised and in need of treatment." Rin diagnosed with a nervous glance at Tsunade. The Sannin languidly stretched her arms high above her head with an exaggerated yawn as she settled down into the furthest seat from the patient's bedside.

"Well, I guess you'd better get to it." She said with a challenging smile. "Show me what you can do."

* * *

Tsume Inuzuka was examining her reflection in the mirror, eyes cautious but appreciative as she gingerly moved her newly-healed limbs. When she was done, she turned to ruffle the petite medic-nin's hair with an appreciative smile.

"Right!" Tsunade said rising to her feet. "We'll leave for Konoha in the morning. For now get some rest. The both of you." As she turned to leave Tsunade felt Rin's small hands grab the sleeve of her blouse and turned to face her with a raised eyebrow.

"But what about sensei?" The girl wondered, brown eyes wide and confused. "You said you were going to help me find him."

"I never said that." Tsunade scoffed arching an eyebrow. She watched the sputtering girl recount their earlier conversation with the others in the hallway. Slowly but surely Rin's shoulders slumped as the realization that the Sannin was right slowly dawned on her.

"But what about sensei? What's going to happen to him?" Rin asked as she pulled out the scroll with smudged characters she had been showing them earlier. "I know it's not very clear and hard to read but I'm sure sensei deliberately left it behind as a clue for us. He's in trouble and needs our help."

Tsunade calmly accepted the scroll from the girl and lowered her gaze to study it briefly. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to make sense of the nonsensical formula.

"Well if that's the case then this clue isn't very good." She said dismissively tossing aside the offending tome as she turned to leave. Rin paused to retrieve the scroll from the ground with a surprised gasp. "His handwriting is atrocious enough as it is and the characters are completely backward and the ink is badly smudged."

"But I'm sure he did it for a reason. There must be a way to decipher it." Rin insisted with a defiant gleam. "Give me until morning and I'll try to—"

"Enough!" Tsunade's voice sliced through the space between them resonating with as much force as a smack. "Even if you deciphered his hidden message right here and now are you honestly asking me to sacrifice the fate of millions for a single shinobi?"

"I never—"

"Where is your head?!" The blonde barked. "Running after your sensei is exactly what the enemy wants. It's probably the only reason they're keeping him alive. Have you forgotten about the toxin in Daisuke's bloodstream that we extracted? We've wasted enough time with these petty diversions! We need to get back to the village to analyze the toxin and develop an antidote as quickly as possible. We'll have to entrust his retrieval to Orochimaru's team."

Rin's shoulders slumped heavily as she let out a defeated sigh. Although she didn't say anything, Tsunade caught the sheen of unshed tears in her gaze as she turned away. The Sannin walked out allowing the girl some privacy. As she marched back to her room, she felt her nails digging painfully into the palm of her hands but did not unclench her fists. While she took no pleasure in the girl's misery, she knew that reason had to prevail at all costs. No matter how hard and cold.

* * *

"It's been a long time!" Jiraiya greeted as he poked his head into the tiny booth. An easy smile tugged at Tsunade's lips as she shifted to create space beside her, tapping the bench for emphasis. The Toad Hermit slid easily into the space turning to address the waitress with a lecherous blush.

Normally Tsunade would have smacked her former teammate upside the head for such a brazen display but she allowed herself a light chuckle as she rested her face on her palm with a patient glance. He jumped slightly when he turned to find her watching him and gave a nervous chuckle as he threw up his hands reflexively sputtering some incoherent excuse for his perverted gaze.

"I didn't expect to find you here in the village." Tsunade said abruptly steering the conversation to a lighter topic. "What brings you here?"

"Well, I popped by the check on how things were going here and got stuck helping Orochimaru and Minato." Tsunade stilled her features at the sound of his student's name but did not otherwise react. Naturally, Jiraiya noticed this subtle shift in her demeanor. His mouth widened into a mischievous grin as he leaned closer. "So you've met him huh? Well what do you think? Quite the looker isn't he?"

"Is he?" Tsunade asked with a hard frown. "I didn't notice." Before he could say anything in response, Tsunade dug the heel of her shoe into his foot causing his words to jumble into an incoherent cry of pain. "So Nawaki, how's your training going?" Tsunade said pointedly addressing the other occupant of the booth.

"Oh, it's awful!" The blonde's chest shook with a doting chuckle at her younger brother's pout. "I wish my sensei would stop babying us and would actually give us some real training." An excited gleam sparkled in his eye as he turned to Jiraiya who was still whining about never walking again. "I have an idea!" He declared dramatically pointing at the stunned Hermit. "You should totally teach me a new jutsu. I heard you've been working on one! Whatever it is, it's going to be awesome! If I can learn that jutsu and show it to sensei, he'll be forced to acknowledge my strength and will start taking me seriously."

"Sorry kid." Jiraiya huffed. "But I already have my hands full with Minato's brats. Honestly that Hatake kid is a handful by himself and then throw in that hyperactive Uchiha and their spandex-wearing rival…how does Minato keep it together with those freaks around?"

"Speak of the devil." Tsunade said with a small nod of her head towards the restaurant entrance. Jiraiya's shoulders slumped when he turned to find a dark-haired boy with goggles glaring at him from the entrance.

"Yea, no kidding." Jiraiya muttered as the waitress returned with his order. He pretended not to notice as he pulled apart his chopsticks and prepared to dig in.

"You're getting a lot easier to find." The dark-haired bow barked as he shoved his way past his silver-haired teammate. "That shadow clone you left behind was a complete joke. Kakashi took his down in less than a minute."

"Oh? And how long did it take you to defeat yours?" Jiraiya asked already knowing the answer. The Uchiha bristled at this, clenching his fists with a frustrated growl as his teammate took over.

"That's not the point!" The boy snapped. "You promised Minato-sensei that you would train us while he was gone. It's been two weeks and the only training we've received is tracking you down."

"An immensely useful tool in a shinobi's arsenal." The Toad Hermit offered with an insincerely sage expression.

"Cut the crap!" Obito roared slamming his fist on the table. "We already learned tracking at the academy!"

"Really?" Kakashi noted distractedly. "I couldn't tell."

"What the hell, Kakashi?! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Well if you'd just take the hint and give up on chasing him all over the village like I did weeks ago you would have learned a lot more training by yourself." The silver-haired boy retorted quietly.

"He made a promise to Minato-sensei!" Obito snapped pointing accusingly at the white-haired Sannin. "I'm just trying to hold him to it."

"Suit yourself." The Hatake shrugged as he turned to walk away. He paused as he noticed Tsunade refilling her cup from the corner of his eye and turned towards her. "You're Tsunade of the legendary Sannin aren't you?" Tsunade turned to give him a small nod of acknowledgment.

"Huh? The legendary what?" The dark-haired boy asked turning from his teammate to Tsunade in confusion. "Wait, how do you know who she is?" Tsunade felt a vein pop on her forehead as the Hatake brat pointed wordlessly at her ample cleavage. Beside her Jiraiya chuckled nervously.

"Oh, so those are the legendary mounds Jiraiya-sama can't shut up about?"

"Jiraiya you…" Nawaki caught her elbow as it arched backwards dangerously.

"Don't hit him please! I need him to train me!" Tsunade's expression softened as she took in her brother's hopeful eyes. "I know he's a creepy perv but he's still a splendid shinobi."

"A creepy perv?" Jiraiya repeated with a disheartened sigh.

"Hey, if you're a Sannin too then maybe you could train us!" The boy's goggles bobbled with his excitement as he turned to Tsunade.

"Sorry kid," Tsunade said holding her palm up. "No can do. Besides, I already have my hands full mentoring your teammate at the hospital." Both boys perked up at the mention of their teammate. While the silver-haired boy's eyes narrowed suspiciously, his teammate's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Rin's back?!" He roared, practically shoving his teammate aside as he sprinted for the exit. "Why didn't you say so earlier?!" He had disappeared into the street beyond without waiting for the blonde's response.

"Rin and Minato-sensei left together." The Hatake stated. "Did something happen to him?"

"He was called away on another mission." Jiraiya said pointedly cutting Tsunade off before she could even respond. "Top secret. Highly classified."

"Indeed." Came the youth's skeptical response as he turned away no doubt to track his recently-returned teammate for answers.

"I swear, that Kakashi is too smart for his own good." Jiraiya sighed as he slumped back in his chair. Nawaki choked on the drink he had been sipping. Tsunade patted his back affectionately, rubbing healing chakra to sooth his clogged passageway.

"Wait? That was Kakashi Hatake?!" Nawaki asked. When Jiraiya nodded weakly he screamed, pulling at his hair as he leapt out of his seat. "He has the second-highest score on the written Chunin exam! I need to find out how he did it!" Before either of them could say anything or even react, he sprinted out of the restaurant calling anxiously for the prodigious Hatake.

"Boy, it sure is good to be back." Tsunade chuckled as she leaned back in her chair with an appreciative smile. "I forgot how much I missed all the bickering and banter from the good old days."

"Well, it's certainly good to have you back." Jiraiya nodded as he refilled her cup for her. "Once Orochimaru returns we should all drag sensei to that teashop shop he favors for old time's sake."

"I'd like that." Tsunade said as she rose to her feet. "But it might have to wait till after the war. I'm not sure when Orochimaru will be returning and I can't wait around for that long. There are still a lot of unprotected civilian villages in danger zones and I have to make sure that they're ready when war breaks out."

"Do you really think it'll come to that?" Jiraiya wondered. "Is war really that inevitable?"

"Afraid so." Tsunade replied grimly. "How easily we forget the lessons of the past." Jiraiya let out a heavy sigh as he rose to join her.

"So I take it you won't be staying for long?" He asked already guessing the answer.

"I'm needed elsewhere." Tsunade replied. "With the proper training and skills those civilians will be able to withstand the horrors of war—even one between shinobi."

"That's quite noble of you," Jiraiya noted with a warm smile as they paid for the meal.

"I'm just following your lead from the last war." Tsunade said returning his smile. "In times like these, we all need to do our best to help those weaker than us."

"If only Orochimaru saw it that way." Jiraiya mused with a woeful smile. "But I'm sure he'll come around. He has to."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Tsunade cautioned quietly as Minato's words came rushing back to her.

" _ **Have you reported any of this to Sandaime-sama?"**_ **She remembered asking him. When Minato had shaken his head in response she had continued.** _ **"I suggest you do so as quickly as possible. With any luck, he'll send you proper reinforcements—no offense but I'm a little surprised he didn't send Orochimaru on this mission."Lesser men would have been insulted by her suggestion**_

" _ **Really? I'm not."**_ **He had replied with a casual shrug.**

" _ **How do you figure?"**_ _**She had challenged crossing her arms she watched him with a smirk**_.

" _ **Given Orochimaru's…macabre inclinations…well…one can hardly fault Sandaime-sama for not wanting to tempt him. We all know he's very close to experimenting on human subjects…if he hasn't already."**_

 _Could that be it? Did he flee with Daisuke to prevent Orochimaru from experimenting on him? No, that couldn't be it. He's a shinobi. Surely someone as talented as him would have been privy to the horrors they were required to commit for the sake of their country._ Doubt flooded her as she recalled their conversation the first time they had met.

" _ **Please, my comrade is badly poisoned."**_ **He had implored.** _**"If you don't help him, he'll die."**_

 _Comrade…while it's possible that he only referred to him as such to make me heal him, it's impossible to fake the sincerity in his voice. Then again…_

Suddenly she was transported back to that moment in the tiny lobby at the heart of Tanzaku Quarters as she traced his bright blue eyes as they shifted to watch Daisuke. Within the icy sheen of his gaze, his intentions were plain. She remembered bristling at the thought as she confronted him.

" _ **I see. So you're using him as bait, huh? Do you think it wise?"**_

" _ **You said it yourself."**_ **Came his calm reply**. _**"If Lady Chiyo's poison was complete, then Daisuke would be dead by now or pretty close to it. The fact that he's still alive makes him an invaluable asset to her experiment. She will go to any lengths to recover him but cannot risk his body being damaged in any way."**_

" _ **So we let them grab him? Just like that? Hasn't he been through enough?"**_

" _ **He's still alive isn't he?"**_ **He had replied flippantly.**

"Is everything alright?" They were sitting on a bench on the hospital rooftop watching the orange glow of the sunset journey lower towards the horizon. Jiraiya was watching her with bemusement.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," Tsunade replied quietly.

"I figured." Jiraiya chuckled. "Anything I can help with? I'd hate for you to develop frown lines on that beautiful forehead of yours." Tsunade rolled her eyes as she leaned back in her seat with a heavy sigh.

"Your student, Minato." She said after turning the issue over in her mind. "You've heard about what happened." Although it wasn't a question, Jiraiya had nodded in response as he shifted to watch her expectantly. "Well, what do you think? What would compel him to behave the way he has?"

"I don't have all the facts but if I know Minato…he's probably doing what he feels is best to protect the village." Jiraiya replied with a proud smile. Tsunade watched the fatherly expression on her friend's features as he thought about his student.

"I'm shocked that you haven't taken off to find him." Tsunade teased with a small nudge.

"I'm sure Orochimaru is more than up to the task." He replied.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Tsunade blurted out before catching herself. It was the second time she had voiced her reservations about their reclusive teammate. Jiraiya had noticed.

"What makes you say that?"

"I've known Orochimaru for years. He can be blunt, tactless and even dismissive of those he deems inferior for whatever reason." Tsunade's eyes widened. "But I've never known him to be disdainful—at least not openly."

"He feels threatened by Minato," Jiraiya explained with a soft sigh. "It doesn't help that they're both being considered to succeed Hiruzen-sama when he retires."

"No way!" Tsunade gasped. "That scrawny kid? Succeed sensei? He's barely past puberty!"

"He turned twenty in January." Jiraiya amended.

"Still? That's still way too young to be even considered for the post." Tsunade scoffed. "Orochimaru should prevail on age alone."

"Winning by default or on a technicality is exactly the type of victory Orochimaru detests." Obviously, the Toad Sannin was right so Tsunade allowed her protest to die in her throat and turned away. "Still, that's not the real reason you brought Minato up."

"He's your student." Tsunade began hesitantly. "So I want to believe the best in him—I really do. But he's not making it very easy for me."

"You think he escaped with that Uzumaki boy, don't you?"

"I want to." She admitted with a frustrated groan. "It'll be so much easier than the alternative."

"Talk me through it," Jiraiya said crossing his arms.

"When I first met him, he referred to the boy as his comrade even though he was from Sunagakure. He even risked his life to fetch me in a sandstorm so I could save the boy when he was in danger of dying. Then days later when the boy was finally healthy enough to be out and about, he didn't hesitate to use him as bait to lure out enemy forces that had been tailing us."

"Minato is one of the few shinobi who views empathy and compassion for one's enemies as a strength." The white-hairs on her teammate's shoulders seemed to glow in the fading sunlight as Tsunade watched him. "That said, he would never let such emotions cloud his judgment and endanger Konoha. I'm sure it will come to you soon but there's probably more to his behavior that you're overlooking. Some clue you haven't noticed yet."

"That's it!"

* * *

When Tsunade found Rin Nohara she was in the hospital break room hunched over a stack of patient charts and reports. The dark-haired boy with goggles was perched on the window sill beside her. Beside him, Kakashi Hatake was leaning against the wall, eyes closed with an exhausted frown as he listened to his teammates. It took Tsunade a moment to realize that the stack of paperwork was actually concealing the real source of the teammate's curiosity. She moved to clear her throat loudly to announce her presence just as the silver-haired boy's eyes opened to meet hers. His elbow moved reflexively for the blade at his back nudging his dark-haired teammate in the process.

The Uchiha cried out as he flailed his arms in wide ungraceful arcs before losing his balance and tumbling down unto the pavement below. Rin rushed to the window with a concerned shout sending the scroll they had been reading tumbling to the ground. Tsunade's eyes narrowed at the sound of shattering glass.

"Obito! Are you alright?!" The girl called out to her groaning teammate below.

"Kakashi! What the hell?! I almost died you bastard!" The Uchiha screamed as he jumped to his feet, his goggles hanging off a large comically-sized bump on his forehead.

"Well, that'll teach you to not secure your footing with chakra." Kakashi retorted coolly as he stooped to gather the broken pieces of Rin's mirror from the floor. "Did you need something?" He asked Tsunade as he straightened up. Rin jumped backward with a stunned gasp, nervously sliding the scroll they had been reading beneath a nearby desk

"That scroll—more specifically the jutsu formula scribbled on there, what can you tell me about it?" Tsunade asked pointing.

"It's um—"

"What's it to you anyway?" Obito snapped as he climbed through the window. "Rin told us about how you brushed her—youch! Rin what's the big idea?!"

"A thousand apologies my lady," Rin said, wrestling her whining teammate into a headlock as she slapped a palm over his mouth muffling his indignant cries. "It seems the fall—"

"Spare me and answer the question." Tsunade barked losing her patience. "You were using the mirror to read it since it was written backwards, right? So you've already deciphered what it does."

"It's a seal," Rin replied with a hesitant glance at Kakashi as he discarded the broken shards of glass into a nearby waste bin. "Before the mission sensei gave me a notebook of seals he had invented. I recognized that formula from the notebook."

"What does that seal do?" Tsunade pressed on with an impatient grunt.

"It overcomes the subject's willpower preventing them from divulging sensitive information to enemy forces no matter what type of interrogation techniques they are subjected to," Kakashi explained calmly. "It's the ultimate defense against intelligence extraction." When he noticed his teammates' perplexed expressions he shrugged. "It's the jutsu sensei invented to pass his Jounin Exam six years ago."

"How did you know about that?" Rin wondered stunned.

"I read about it in the jutsu archives when we were assigned to inventory them a few years ago and asked sensei about it."

"Impressive," Tsunade remarked allowing herself a small smile.

"I disagree." Obito huffed. "That seal sounds like a death sentence for anyone dumb enough to use it on themselves."

"I'm sure sensei had his reasons for using it." Kakashi's grey eyes narrowed defensively as he glared at his teammate.

"What makes you think sensei would be dumb enough to use such a jutsu on himself?!"

"The only reason sensei would have written the formula backward was if he had intended to use it on himself," Rin stated quietly. "The seal is only effective once marked on the subject's skin. Think about it, writing it backward would have made transferring the formula a lot easier than him standing in front of a mirror and marking his body."

"But isn't that what shadow clones are for?" Obito wondered scratching his head in confusion.

"But then how would we have figured out that sensei was in trouble?" Tsunade replied. "That scroll is your sensei's way of telling us that he's in trouble."

"What are we waiting for?! We have to go rescue sensei!" Obito declared moving to jump out of the window. Kakashi moved his arm blocking his path as he turned to face him.

"Sensei might have wanted us to know that he hadn't betrayed the village but I doubt that he would have wanted us to come after him."

"But he's in trouble Kakashi." Rin protested. "The fact that he resorted to this proves that he needs help."

"Sensei sacrificed himself so that the rest of your team could return to the village with the intelligence you had gathered. That seal was merely an insurance policy to ensure that his knowledge would never be used against the village and nothing more. Besides an enemy capable of backing sensei into a corner is hardly one either of you is a match for."

"Move your arm." Obito's voice came out in a trembling whisper as he turned towards his teammate with a fierce look. When the silver-haired Chunin returned his gaze unfazed, the Uchiha barked. "Move or I'll move you!"

"I'd like to see you try." Kakashi taunted.

"You guys please stop!" Rin begged, shoving her way between them.

"That's enough," Tsunade said slamming her palm unto the desk angrily sending several sheets of paperwork crashing to the ground. A stunned silence filled the room as they turned to face her as she slowly straightened up. "Kakashi is right. Your sensei was willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of the village. Never forget that." Rin and Obito hung their heads sadly as the blonde turned to leave. She paused at the doorway glancing over her shoulder at them with a sympathetic smile. "That being said, Lady Chiyo cannot be allowed to continue her work on Daisuke."

"I agree," Rin said. "The antidote we've developed would be useless if she's allowed to enhance her toxin."

"Right! We'll save this Sasuke guy along with sensei and bring them both back to the village!" Obito declared drawing an exasperated sigh from Rin.

"For the last time Obito, his name's not Sasuke, it's _Daisuke_." She corrected

"No, it's not," Kakashi stated matter-of-factly.

"Actually Kakashi it is," Rin said turning towards him with a polite smile.

"No, it's not." The silver-haired boy insisted narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "And something tells me he's not an Uzumaki either."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

"Oh? And what makes you so sure of that?" Obito scoffed crossing his arms as he gave Kakashi a skeptical frown. Although Rin seemed to agree with the Uchiha, she was understandably reluctant to openly contradict her prodigious teammate.

"Think about it." Kakashi urged with a quiet sigh. "It's quite obvious when you actually stop to think about everything that has happened."

"You know…" Obito said pausing to pinch the bridge of his nose with an annoyed sigh. "Just because you're a Chunin doesn't make you smarter or better than us!"

"Actually it does." Kakashi shot back as his frown hardened. "The shinobi rank system exists for a reason." Obito balled his fists with an annoyed hiss as he slowly approached his aloof teammate, dark eyes narrowed into deadly slits. Rin wrapped her hands around his arm, planting her feet as she urged him in the opposite direction.

"A real leader," Tsunade began shifting slightly to face Kakashi. "Never belittles or talks down to his subordinates. A true leader recognizes and accommodates his subordinates' weaknesses; he doesn't mock or demean them for it." Although the Hatake said nothing in response, the aloof sheen in his sharp grey eyes seemed to dim as he slowly lifted his arm away allowing Obito through.

"You seem so sure that he's not an Uzumaki," Rin said meekly as she faced Kakashi. "Why?"

"Because he never introduced himself as one." The silver-haired Chunin replied matter-of-factly. "Sensei took one look at his hair and assumed he was an Uzumaki."

"But he probably doesn't have that name anymore if his mother was an Uzumaki." Rin reasoned.

"I mean my grandmother was an Uzumaki and I've never identified as one." Tsunade offered.

"A shinobi must learn to see through deception." Kakashi quoted with a studious frown.

"Horse Poo!" Obito exclaimed pointing at his teammate accusingly. "You're not sure either! That's why you're being so cryptic."

"I'm not guessing. I know!" Kakashi retorted not bothering to hide to irritation from his voice. "There's a reason I asked you to describe the exact moment you met him, remember Rin?" Rin's eyes widened at his words as she recalled his pointed questioning from before.

"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked. "I thought you said you found him in a cage in Lady Chiyo's lab."

"We did and there were other red-haired corpses in the adjoining cells." Rin replied somewhat defensively. Kakashi shook his head cutting her off.

"Not that. Before then." He urged. "What happened directly before you and sensei entered the lab?"

"We—I mean sensei…sensei killed the guards." Rin replied. "Do you want me to describe—"

"I imagine it wasn't very quiet was it?" Kakashi deduced. Rin nodded with a perplexed look. "Was it possible for someone to have been watching you from the entrance of the laboratory without you or sensei seeing them?" The brunette was about to shake her head in response before catching herself as she tried desperately to recall the exact appearance of the laboratory's entrance.

"I don't remember, what it looked like." She finally said after some consideration. "So I guess it is possible."

"You think this Daisuke person was a guard who disguised himself as a prisoner when he saw Minato killing his comrades?" Tsunade asked arching an eyebrow incredulously.

"No, not a guard." Kakashi said. "I think this imposter was Lady Chiyo's apprentice."

"Nani?!" Obito exclaimed with a bemused frown.

"No, Kakashi, you're wrong." Rin insisted shaking her head stubbornly. "You weren't there. You didn't see what I and sensei saw! He was trembling in his cage, his body was frail and he was fading fast."

"That's true." Tsunade said as she recalled the needle mark scars littered across Daisuke's arms. "His arms were littered in needle marks scars—some of them clearly from many years ago. And he had been badly poisoned when I reached him."

"Orochimaru-sama." Kakashi said turning to give Tsunade a meaningful look. "He incorporates snakes and venoms into most of his jutsus. I think it's fair to say that over the years he has developed an immense tolerance for poisons and similar toxins."

Tsunade's eyes widened as she was reminded of her team's encounter with Hanzo of the Salamander nearly two decades ago. She remembered how it had taken Hanzo's toxin almost twice as long to affect Orochimaru's body while she and Jiraiya could only watch helplessly. At the time she hadn't thought anything of it since she and Jiraiya were well aware of his affinity for snakes.

"But if he's been ingesting his own poison," Rin said shaking her head slowly. "Why inject himself? Why not just drink or swallow it directly?"

"Poison acts quicker once injected into the bloodstream." Tsunade explained. "If he had been testing his toxins on himself over the years, ingesting them orally would have taken too long to see any visible effects. Naturally, extensive exposure to poisons would have built his resistance to poisons."

"He must have gotten scared and poisoned himself when he saw Minato-sensei entering the lab." Kakashi reasoned. "Any enemy who's ever seen sensei fight would have done the same."

"But sensei, even with his chakra sealed, sensei's sensory abilities were still functional." Rin argued. "He could detect enemies nearby—"

"Poison alters and disrupts a shinobi's chakra signature enough to make it unrecognizable." Tsunade explained. "In extreme cases, it has been known to suppress their chakra entirely and even alter their physiological makeup."

"You said his eyes changed color." Obito said quietly turning towards Rin. Although some doubt still lingered in his dark eyes, he was clearly coming around to his teammate's theory.

"That's right." Tsunade said as she remembered when Minato had caught Daisuke eavesdropping on their conversation in the cave. "You and Shizune were really excited about it. You said it had changed from purple to rusty-brown."

"But I— What about Lady Chiyo? Tsunade-sama you know about her too so she exists."

"That doesn't prove anything." The Sannin sighed. "Besides, he was the one who told us that the lab belonged to her. Any information he divulged to us cannot be trusted."

"Classic misdirection." Kakashi muttered in agreement.

"But you said she was a puppet master who favored poisons on the battle field." The brunette insisted, her brown eyes gleaming defiantly as her shoulders trembled. "And we were pursued by a puppet master throughout our journey."

"Sunagakure is known for pioneering and perfecting the shinobi art of puppetry." Kakashi said dismissively. "He could easily have thrown her name out there knowing that she was one of the few puppet masters outsiders would be familiar with enough to be terrified."

"But why?" Obito asked quietly speaking up yet again. "I don't get it. Why go through all that trouble? What was the point of all that?"

"Let's walk through this." Kakashi said settling down unto a nearby chair with a contemplative frown. "When you were first attacked at the bathhouse what happened?"

"We were entering our room, sensei and Lady Tsunade were talking outside when—"

"Before then," Tsunade said cutting her off as she recalled her conversation with the blue-eyed Jounin by the counter. "He knew. He sensed that we were being followed—we both did. But how could he have summoned them to our location? He was with us the entire time—he never once left either of our sights."

"The puppet master seal." Kakashi deduced straightening up slowly as his eyes widened ever so slightly. "It probably works like sensei's Flying Thunder God seal." When no one seemed to understand what he was getting at, he elaborated. "Sensei marks a target with his seal by touching them allowing him to teleport to them later."

"I get it," Rin said slowly. "So if the puppet master seal works in a similar way Daisuke could have marked anyone he has ever encountered with his seal without them knowing."

"But a jutsu like that has to have a range." Tsunade countered. "And there's no way someone can be capable of keeping track of everyone they've ever marked."

"Not necessarily." Obito replied. "I've seen sensei transport between marks on opposite sides of the continent without breaking a sweat."

"I agree." Kakashi added. "I don't think sensei's seal has a discernible range."

"Sensei told me that he feels a tingle in his fingers whenever someone he's marked is nearby." Rin stated quietly.

"And don't forget sensei has loads of hideouts strategically scattered all over the continent with his kunai for easy access." Kakashi continued. "If he can plan that far ahead it's not inconceivable for a puppet master to do the same with his seal."

"Alright, so he sensed two subjects he had marked previously nearing our location and activated his seals making them follow and attack us." Tsunade said slowly walking through the Hatake's hypothesis. A long pause settled in the room around them as they considered her words for any flaws or weaknesses in the theory.

"But why?" Obito repeated incredulously. "Why activate Lady Tsunade's seal before entering the village? Wouldn't it have been more effective waiting until you had returned to Konoha?"

"Because sensei figured out what he was up to and forced his hand." Kakashi said. "You said that Minato-sensei pulled him aside after the first attack." Although it hadn't been a question, the brunette had nodded in response as her teammate held her gaze. "Sensei probably began to suspect him then—"

"He must have been interrupted before he could get to the bottom of it." Tsunade reasoned with a mirthless chuckle. "Tsume and Lord Fugaku arrived shortly after."

"Something else happened." Kakashi said unconvinced. "Something that forced him into a corner."

"Tsume was going to take Daisuke to rendezvous with Orochimaru and Hizashi."

"They were going to take him away from the village." Kakashi said snapping his fingers. "Further away from his goal. That's when sensei sensed his desperation and figured out his plan."

"That explains what he meant." Rin gasped. "When he apologized to Lord Fugaku for being cryptic." Kakashi and Obito turned to face her with identical confused looks prompting her to elaborate. "I remember Lord Fugaku asking sensei how long he had known about it when Lady Tsunade had attacked us and sensei saying something along the lines of him not realizing the plan soon enough."

"We have to tell the Hokage!" Obito called out hopping on the window sill without hesitation.

"Tell him what?" Kakashi's voice rang out halting the Uchiha in his tracks as he turned to face his teammates. "Chances are he's already figured out as much. Barging into his office to bother him with information he already has won't do you much good."

"And I suppose you're fine with just sitting here and not doing anything to save sensei?" Obito shot back hotly.

"Unless you know exactly where sensei was taken you're only going to waste your time and breath going to the Hokage."

"He's right Obito." Rin said meekly bowing her head as her small fingers tightened around his arm. "Lord Orochimaru's team is made up of excellent trackers. We would only be getting in their—"

"So that's it?" Obito asked his voice low but incredulous. "After everything sensei has been through with us—everything he's done for us we're just going to—"

"It's not that simple." Tsunade scolded stepping between the two glaring boys.

"It is!" The Uchiha insisted his dark eyes wide and furious as he turned to glare at her instead. "When your comrade is in trouble you fly to their aid. Isn't that we shinobi do?"

"Even if we knew exactly where this impostor took sensei, which we do not, if we charge in without any intel or strategy for getting him out we won't be rescuing anyone." Kakashi stated bluntly his sleet grey eyes hard and cold as he crossed his arms. Obito shook his head defiantly.

"Forget that!" He cried out his voice cracking with exasperation. "Between the four of us we can come up with a—"

"Four of us?" Hatake repeated arching a silver eyebrow incredulously. The Uchiha's face fell as he registered the hard look on his teammate's face.

"It's alright." Tsunade said heaving a heavy sigh as she closed her eyes. "I'll go after your sensei."

Rin and Obito's faces lit up at this as they turned towards the Slug Sannin. Tsunade pretended not to notice as she turned to address Kakashi who was leaning against the wall studying her with impassive grey eyes.

"But I'll need your help." She said briefly turning away from the silver-haired prodigy to address each of his teammate in turn. "Rin, I want you to teach me seal you've memorized from your sensei's notebook. Obito, I'll need you to run to the archives department, Setsuko Hyuga—the Director of Record Management— owes me a favor. Tell her I'm calling it in."

"Got it." The Uchiha said turning to sprint off before remembering that he had no idea what records he was supposed to request.

"I need every record we have of every S-Ranked Sunagakure shinobi." She commanded. "Photos, reports, and mission summaries for every S-ranked shinobi under twenty."

Once Obito was sure that she was done, he hopped out of the window, disappearing into the night at a brisk sprint. She turned to Rin prompting the girl to stand at attention, her large brown eyes watching her expectantly.

"I need my notes on the poison's structure and antidote formula." Tsunade informed her. "Check my locker on the second floor. If anyone asks, tell them I sent you." The girl nodded and turned to leave, pausing when she noticed Kakashi digging his hands into his pocket as he pushed off from the wall seemingly preparing to leave.

"Look, kid. I get it." Tsunade said quietly. "He's your sensei so I admire your discipline and devotion."

"But?" Kakashi said turning to face her with an expectant look.

"No 'buts'" She assured him with a small shake of her head. His mask moved briefly as he considered saying something in response before deciding against it and turning away. When he reached the door, he paused long enough to dig out a small scroll from his weapon's pouch which he held up for her to see.

"He's young, but Akino is my best ninken." Kakashi explained as Tsunade studied the summoning scroll blankly before accepting it. Their eyes met and the Senju heiress was taken aback by how much the child reminded her of his late father even with most of his face hidden beneath his mask. Although his disapproval was evident in the crease of his silver eyebrows, he said nothing further on the matter as he jumped through the open window Obito had departed through earlier. A split second before he jumped out, Tsunade felt the words forming in her throat but bit them back forcing her lips shut as she watched him disappear into the night.

Rin returned from her errand, flushed and clearly winded as she paused briefly at the doorway to catch her breath. When Tsunade was sure that the girl wasn't going to collapse, she accepted the notebook she held out for her, flipping it open to study her handwriting with a small frown.

 _Just as I suspected…Hemlock's the main ingredient. How efficient._

"So Kakashi really refused to help us huh?" Rin muttered quietly interrupting Tsunade's reading. She glanced towards the girl, watching her fiddle with her apron as her small sandals shuffled on the ground below her.

"He doesn't approve." Tsunade stated vaguely as she settled down into an empty chair.

"I know he cares about sensei but I can't understand why he insists on leaving sensei's rescue to Lord Orochimaru." Rin continued.

"Focus Rin." Tsunade scolded startling the girl slightly. "We won't be of any help to your sensei if we stopped to pout every time something didn't go our way."

"Y-yes ma'am!" Rin stuttered nervously with an apologetic bow.

"Before I infiltrate Sunagakure we'll need to have a plan to track down your sensei and rescue him." Tsunade continued as she started pacing back and forth, deep in thought.

"You think he took sensei back to Sunagakure?" Rin wondered with a confused frown. The Senju heiress turned to face her with a questioning look prompting the girl to elaborate. "It's just that, it's been over a week now and…wouldn't Sunagakure be furious by now after learning of sensei's involvement in the lab's destruction?"

"Just because we haven't heard anything from them doesn't mean they aren't aware of Konoha's involvement." Tsunade explained. "Think about it, if they confronted us openly with their accusations we would only just deny it. So it's better for them to keep us guessing about whether or not they know of our involvement and attack once an opening presents itself."

"I see." Rin muttered with a small smile. "I suppose that would make a lot more sense. So how are you going to infiltrate Sunagakure? Are you going to use a disguise?"

"I haven't decided yet." Tsunade admitted. "I wanted to find out as much as I could about our impostor before coming up with a strategy."

"Let's hope Obito returns with some good records." The brunette said with a small sigh as she settled down into an empty chair.

"In the meantime," Tsunade stated with a pointed glance at the young kunoichi. "Let's try to work this out. What can we deduce about the impostor based on what we know so far?"

"He's a brilliant strategist and extremely cunning. He also has to be very patient and flexible—he had to adapt to many setbacks with very little time to prepare." Rin replied after a brief moment of consideration. Tsunade nodded.

"He's also a puppet master," she said holding up a finger for emphasis. "Which immediately tells us that he favors long-range combat, however, it would not surprise me if he is adept at short-range hand-to-hand combat."

"He must also have immense chakra control or a very large reserve." Rin offered. "The puppet mastery jutsus are notoriously chakra-consuming."

"He also has vast medical knowledge at his disposal making him a lethal opponent." Tsunade's lips curled in anticipation at the thought of facing him in a battle of wits. It wasn't often that she encountered another ninja with knowledge in medical ninjutsu that matched her own. While she certainly didn't welcome such challenges, she knew that she was perhaps the only shinobi alive capable of taking this monster down before he perfected his toxin.

 _If he hasn't already…_ Tsunade's eyes widened as a harrowing realization suddenly occurred to her. The toxin was complete. It had been for the past five weeks now—if not longer. All this time, they had been worried about protecting Daisuke the impostor from capture to keep Sunagakure from perfecting its lethal weapon. The irony of their very actions resulting in the very consequence they had worked hard to avoid was not lost on her as she recalled one of her grandfather's favorite sayings.

" _We often meet our destiny on the road we take to avoid it."_

"Sorry?" Tsunade jumped slightly at the sound of Obito's voice. She turned to find him and Rin huddled over a map of the Five Great Nations and the surrounding hidden villages. Her gaze flickered to the small stack of scrolls tucked beneath his armpits with an annoyed frown.

"Is that it?" She asked reaching for the scrolls with an impatient huff. He arched his eyebrow clearly taken aback and slightly alarmed by her suddenly foul mood. "This isn't nearly close to what we need." She grumbled as she scanned the first couple of scrolls briefly.

"Sorry it's just that well I thought—it would be best to narrow the list down to ninja with some skill or knowledge of medical ninjutsu." The Uchiha boy explained sheepishly shuffling his feet as he watched her apprehensively. Although she was grateful for his quick thinking, she was far too on edge to express as much. Instead, she stole from the room, head pounding with the beginnings of a massive headache.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the gap between chapters. My personal life got crazier than normal and I kept tweaking this chapter over and over again until finally I decided to just upload it and move on to the next chapter. Thanks so much to everyone who has read, liked, commented, or followed this story thus far. You all are amazing and I appreciate the time you've invested in this story-no matter how miniscule. I'll try to get back to uploading a chapter per week so I hope to see you all again next week.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

The orange glow of the sinking evening sun cast an eerie shadow over the distant sandy rooftops of Sunagakure. A pair of sentries stopped the approaching caravan of civilian traders as it neared the narrow gorge leading towards the Land of Wind's hidden village. Beside her Tsunade felt her escort draw a sharp, quick breath as they came to a stop.

"Relax." She heard herself whisper breezily beneath her breath as the head of the caravan surrendered a stack of papers to the watching sentries.

"This might be normal for you but I've never done anything like this before." Dojima hissed back, his deep brown eyes trained on his dusty sandals to keep them from darting around suspiciously. "I can't believe I let you talk me into smuggling you into Sunagakure." Tsunade resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she nudged him with an elbow. He turned to give her an annoyed look before noticing a long slender finger pointing towards a yawning sentry nearby.

"If they're not bothered, why are you?" She asked with a confident chuckle. No sooner had the words left her mouth was the caravan waved across the border by a lazy-eyed guard without so much as a perfunctory inspection. Tsunade narrowed her eyes as she studied the group of sentries stationed throughout the gorge.

 _Well that was easy…too easy._

Although they seemed to be manning their posts and patrolling their usual routes, she couldn't help but notice the heavy bags beneath their eyes and a few scattered yawns as they passed. Every now and then a couple of guards would glance skyward, bleary eyes willing the sun to sink lower faster.

"We got lucky." Dojima scoffed. "Next time you want someone to smuggle you into a hidden village you find some other schmuck."

"But you're really good at this, and I hear smuggling can be quite lucrative especially for someone with a gambling debt as hefty as yours." Her lips twisted into a wicked smirk as she watched the man's features darken.

"No way." He spat out. "I'm never doing this again. Do you hear me? I'd rather take my chances with Gato and his goons."

"Well I've seen you gamble..." She smiled, cocking her head ever so slightly to the side. "So I wouldn't really advise you to do that."

"You're one to talk." He shot back with a playful nudge of his own. Tsunade smiled when she noticed the small smile tugging at his lower lip as he walked beside her. His broad shoulders had relaxed considerably now that they were well inside the village.

"Hey, Dojima!" They turned to find one of the traders in their caravan jogging to catch up with them. "A couple of us heard about this new restaurant that just opened up in the Southern District." He paused long enough to cast Tsunade a brief lecherous grin before continuing. "You and your friend should join us."

"Er I don't think—"

"Come on!" The man moaned nudging her burly escort. "I heard that they serve some of the best grilled squid dumplings and their sake tastes like nectar from the gods."

"I'd love to." Tsunade said before Dojima could refuse the man again. The man pumped the air triumphantly unable to control his excitement before catching himself. He turned and clapped his hands together before rejoining a larger group of travelers following them.

"I thought you were supposed to be on an important mission?" Dojima asked arching an eyebrow as a disapproving frown lined his features.

"I need a break from all this traveling." Tsunade replied with a small shrug. "Besides we have five days here, don't we?"

"Nice try but it's still four days." He replied with a firm shake of his head. "On the fifth morning this caravan leaves with or without you. So I suggest that you'd better get started looking for whatever it is that you misplaced in here."

"I didn't _misplace_ anything." Tsunade corrected with a small scoff. "It was stolen from me."

"Right, whatever." Dojima replied. "Eating and drinking all night long with those idiots isn't going to get you very far."

"On the contrary, if the sake is as good as your friend says then that restaurant is exactly where I need to be." Although the confusion was evident in his features as he gave her a sidelong glance, he did not say anything and continued walking the rest of the way in silence.

Tsunade's eyes wandered across the wide sandy streets doing her best to take in as much of the village as she could. The streets around them were brightly lit by row after row of glittering shops and restaurants. Colorful signs and banners hung from the strange circular rooftops of the nearby buildings. A gentle gust of cool evening breeze sprinkled a light trail of sand at their feet. Civilians walked by clad in dull flowing robes and white headscarves. Here and there she spotted a couple of off duty shinobi walking and larking around shop entrances. Tsunade found the relaxed atmosphere strangely ominous—like a calm before a sudden tempest.

She narrowed her eyes as she returned to studying the village skyline. Somewhere concealed within one of those curiously gourd-shaped clay buildings was Jiraiya's pupil. She was sure of it. She had to be. Else she never would have left Konohagakure in the first place, let alone blackmailed her way unto a trading caravan traveling through the Land of Wind.

It had been a week since Jiraiya, Rin, Obito and Shizune had seen her off at the front gates. While Minato's students understandably begged to accompany her, she had finally managed to dissuade them from doing so. As much as she hated leaving Shizune behind in the village, the risks of bringing her along were far too great for Tsunade to take. The thought of the girl reconnecting briefly with her distant relatives after a lengthy absence was an added benefit Tsunade had welcomed. The first couple of days had been spent traveling to her favorite stomping grounds—the resort district of Tanzaku Quarters. There she had managed to track down her old gambling buddy Dojima through some of their mutual friends and creditors. By the time she finally caught up with him, she barely had enough time to blackmail him into smuggling her into the village.

"I'm going to get some rest." Dojima said stifling a loud yawn with his large hand as he approached the brightly-lit inn entrance. "Are you going to check in before heading out to join the others?" When she nodded he let out a long drawn out sigh, pausing long enough to scratch the back of his head before addressing her again. "Well I'm not coming to get you no matter how drunk you are."

"Sweet dreams." She called out dismissively as she approached the counter to book her own room as he turned to leave. After receiving her key, she retreated upstairs to her tiny room where she quickly undressed and washed up before spreading out her things on the bed.

She hadn't had enough time to pack save for a few clothes, a pair of medical books and a drawstring bag of toiletries. Blonde eyebrows creased in concern as she emptied the meager contents of her drawstring unto her futon.

 _No eye shadow and not nearly enough lipstick left._ She swore under her breath as she gathered her things and settled them along the bathroom counter. Reaching out to wipe the steam that had settled on the bathroom mirror, she briefly studied her reflection as her fingers crushed her concealer into a fine powder before applying it on her face. Satisfied with the even texture of her once-blotchy complexion, she carefully smoothed a layer of foundation unto her skin before applying a light rouge to her cheeks. Crushing her lipstick to her lips, she returned her gaze once more to the clothes on her bed.

As she applied the finishing touches to her makeup, she cursed her narrow-minded decision to pack only practical traveling clothes. While she had expected to do some intelligence gathering in the field, she had neither anticipated nor prepared for a night on the town. Even though she knew there were other ways of blending in and extracting information, she had found that most men were exceptionally flustered by, not to mention forthcoming when staring down the crescent peaks of her bosom.

She slipped into her underwear, pausing briefly to adjust the straps of her bra lifting her mounds considerably higher than their normal resting place near her navel. Deciding against exposing too much flesh, she settled for a pale pink kimono before styling her damp blonde locks into a high bun. Pausing briefly to inspect her reflection once more her lips twisted into a satisfied smile as she noted the generous swell of her chest within the folds of her kimono before stepping out into the hallway. By the time she reached the stairs, the other traders in their caravan were already waiting by the doorway. She pretended not to notice the lecherous stares and cat calls that followed her as she slowly made her way towards Dojima's colleague who had approached her earlier.

The image of Rin's large brown eyes peeking up at her silver-haired teammate from beneath long, dark lashes inexplicably flickered into focus as she greeted the man with a demure bow.

"My, you clean up," he paused to clear his throat as he adjusted his suddenly-restrictive collar. "Very well, my lady."

"Hana." Her lips spread into a polite smile as the man introduced himself before turning to offer her his arm. His companions stumbled forward each eagerly extending a hand to introduce himself. Doing her best imitation of Rin, she patiently greeted each with a warm smile before turning to accept her escort's arm.

Although her shoes were quite comfortable compared to her usual high heels, she was very relieved to discover that the walk from the hotel to the restaurant was shorter than she had expected. While the kimono fit her quite loosely, her back ached from the restrictive wires of her bra and walking without the normal aid of chakra was beginning to take its toll on her body.

 _How did Namikaze manage two weeks of this?_ She wandered as they entered the restaurant.

Their party was ushered towards one of the empty backrooms where two servers arrived to take their orders. As they settled in to drink their sake, the men got into a competition trying to guess Tsunade's relationship with Dojima. While she had assured them that their friendship was strictly platonic, the already-tipsy merchants insisted that Dojima must have been blind to remain content with such an arrangement. Although she had noticed a few women merchants in their group, none of them would be joining them at the restaurant that night.

"Jealous, the lot of them!" A balding merchant declared with a small hiccup as he refilled his sake cup. "And rightfully so. After all how could any of them hope to compare to your…." His gaze trailed down to her chest and Tsunade clenched her fingers together beneath the table to keep from driving them into his skull. His eyes glazed over as he trailed off, his train of thought thoroughly derailed.

 _Kami, it's like being surrounded by twenty Jiraiyas. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take or if it's even worth it keeping my cool._

By the time their food arrived, a small arm-wrestling tournament had broken out amongst the merchants as each man vied for Tsunade's attention. She barely had enough time to think up an excuse to duck out of the room before retreating outside towards the waitress station.

Pausing briefly to pretend to search for the bathroom, she noticed a pair of frustrated waitresses blocking a flailing woman's path to one of the backrooms. Tsunade blinked slowly as she traced the woman's heated gaze to the sliding paper door leading to the room beside the one she had just emerged from.

 _Someone's wife perhaps?_

"—clearly not too busy to stuff his fat face and get drunk!" The woman spat out.

"Yuki! I will have to ask you to leave now." A tall chubby man dressed in a crisp black hakama and dark blue kimono with gold trimmings scolded as he emerged from an inner office behind the front counter.

"So that's it?" The woman called Yuki cried out as tears stung her livid grey eyes. "They take weeks to retrieve Ame's remains from the ruins and when they do they expect me to just sit back without asking any questions!"

"Relax Yuki, this is neither the time nor place." One of the waitresses pleaded as she and her colleague tried to nudge the irate woman away. Tsunade moved to slip past them with an awkward smile but paused at the sharp sound of a door sliding open.

"You dare follow me here woman, on my day off?!" A lanky middle-aged man with blotchy red skin barked as he poked his head out into the hallway. The chubby manager turned to address the annoyed patron with an apologetic bow just as Yuki slipped out of the waitresses' clutches.

"You've been avoiding me." She shot back defensively.

"Because you insist on hounding me about—"

"Doing your job? Yes exactly."

"I have already done my job you quarrelsome creature!" The man grunted as he prepared to return to his room with a dismissive wave of his hand. Yuki snatched a slipper from her foot and hurled it at the back of his head stopping him dead in his tracks. They all fell silent as they watched him turn to face her with a dangerous scowl. Tsunade knew that look all too well, having employed it numerous times in the past to warn Jiraiya that he was five seconds aware from a severe beat down.

"You've got some nerve. First you barely give me enough of my husband's body to identify then you call me quarrelsome because I'm asking you to do your job? Aren't you even the least bit curious about what Ame was doing in that ravine in the first place? On his day off no less." Tsunade perked up as she remembered something Rin had mentioned before.

"For the last time, he was guarding a storage facility." The man said rubbing his temples with a grating snarl.

 _Storage facility?_ Tsunade's brow creased ever so slightly as Rin's summary of the night Minato stormed Daisuke's lab came roaring back to her. _Could it be? Could this facility have actually been the lab Rin had described?_

"Since when?!" Yuki shot back hotly. "My husband was a member of the ANBU Black Ops. Guard duty like that is Chunin work."

"Listen woman, everything contained in my report is all I am at liberty to say. These are orders directly from the Kazekage himself." He paused to rub the back of his neck with a sympathetic sigh as he met her gaze. "Look, I can't go into a lot of details but you should be happy that your husband died in service to this country."

"And? What about the rest of his body? Am I supposed to just—"

"For the last time woman your husband died in a rockslide." The man snapped suddenly losing his patience once more. "Retrieving his body will take some time so back off, will you?"

"That is hogwash and you know it!" The widow cried out pointing her finger accusingly. "You barely even finished excavating the site before giving up and turning the project over to that reptile."

"Oi! You will address Lord Sasori with the respect he deserves."

"I just did." Yuki retorted without missing a beat before noticing his deepening scowl and falling silent. "I just don't understand why you couldn't finish up the excavation?" Her voice broke as it hung on the last syllable.

"Again, if you have a problem with it, feel free to take it up with Lord Kazekage, alright?"

"But why would the Kazekage order you and your men to stop investigating and examining the site? Don't you think that's even a little bit strange?"

"I don't get what your problem is. I get it you're grieving but that's no excuse. After all, none of the others are raising this big a stink over this because they—"

"Are scared of crossing Sasori." Yuki shot back. "How can you just sit there and pretend like this doesn't affect you? Some of those shinobi were your friends, classmates!"

"If you know what's good for you, you'd better drop this once and for all." He said in a dangerously low voice before storming off.

As he spoke, the chubby manager returned with a pair of burly men dressed in cooking aprons who promptly grabbed the flailing widow by her armpits before hoisting her off her feet and taking her out of the restaurant. The further they carried her, the louder her screams and frantic curses grew until the entire restaurant could only watch the scene play out in stunned silence. On a whim, Tsunade followed them outside, pressing herself against the wall as the cooks returned indoors before moving to help the sobbing woman off the floor.

"It's alright." Tsunade assured her with a kind smile as she dusted off the woman's kimono. "You look exhausted. Would you like me to walk you home?"

"No thanks…I can manage." The woman said wrenching her elbow from Tsunade's grasp before turning away with a huff.

"I'm sorry I didn't help you back then I was—"

"I get it." Yuki scoffed harshly. "It's always good fun until it happens to you." The widow adjusted her robes and straightened her hair with an indignant flick of her wrists before walking away.

"Actually, it did." Tsunade felt a flutter in her stomach as the woman froze in her tracks. Although her back was still to the Slug Princess, it didn't take much to imagine the horror and shock etched in her features.

"I'm so…" the woman trailed off turning around to face her, grey eyes wide and searching. "Sorry. I didn't recognize you."

"We never met." Tsunade said with a sheepish smile. "Sousuke never really cared for Ame but he always spoke very highly of him." While it was risky using a randomly made up name to sell her story, Tsunade knew it was the quickest way to connect with the wary woman.

"I remember meeting Sousuke's wife a couple of…" the woman's voice trailed off as her eyes suddenly widened. Her expression shifted from one of confusion to understanding before finally settling for deep embarrassment. "You must be his lover."

"We were keeping it secret until he left his wife." Tsunade explained throwing caution to the wind. As much as she was aware of the risks involved in pandering to a stranger's narrative lest she be caught in a lie, time was of the essence. The air in Tsunade's lungs suddenly evaporated as the widow closed the distance between them with a tender hug.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know" Yuki sobbed quietly as she slowly but surely pulled away. "I can't imagine how hard this must have been for you."

"It's alright." Tsunade assured her with an awkward chuckle before adding. "How could you have known?"

"You must think I'm crazy challenging him like that."

"Not at all." Tsunade replied with a small smile. "I wish I could be brave enough to speak out and stand up to him like you just did. But I'm just such a coward."

"Normally, I'm a lot quieter and definitely more calm and composed but I can't…" Tsunade averted her gaze respectfully as tears filled the widow's grey eyes once more. "Honestly! Just because he's Lady Chiyo's grandson doesn't mean he can go around doing whatever he wants."

"Who? Sasori?" The Slug Princess blurted out taken aback before catching herself. Yuki nodded in response, clearly oblivious of her slipup before pulling the Senju heiress closer with a conspiratorial glance over her shoulder.

"Although my father-in-law tells me all that's about to change." Tsunade's eyes widened as she turned to face the woman with a shocked look. Yuki beamed, pressing her finger to her lips.

"What's about to change?"

"Well, he—my father-in-law— works very closely with the Jounin General and he overheard him and Lord Kazekage talking about a week ago. Apparently Lord Kazekage has finally decided to stop grooming Sasori to succeed him."

"Oh, but that doesn't mean—"

"Lord Kazekage doesn't feel like he can really trust Sasori anymore. I heard that their relationship has gotten so strained that Lady Chiyo has to act as a go-between for them."

"But if that's true then why would the Kazekage put him in charge of completing the excavation?" Tsunade wondered tilting her head to the side.

"Lady Chiyo probably pulled some strings to get him back in Lord Kazekage's good graces." Yuki replied with a shrug unfazed by the question. "Although, if you really ask me, I think something stinks and the excavation is really just an elaborate cover-up for something big."

"Something big like what?" Tsunade pressed, arching an eyebrow inquisitively. Yuki shrugged again. She seemed relieved to have finally found a sympathetic ear to rant to. "Well I must return back inside before my brothers begin to worry." Tsunade said turning as she prepared to return back to the restaurant.

"You know, if you're really serious about doing something you should join us." Yuki said with a earnest smile. "Alone we can be easily silenced and ignored but together—"

"I doubt the both of us would be able to accomplish much by ourselves." Tsunade stated bluntly.

"No, but if we recruit more people—the other families are too scared to step forward just like you were—"

"But I still am." Tsunade said cutting her off with a heavy sigh. "Look, I'm sorry but the way—"

"Don't you want to recover the rest of Sousuke's remains? Wouldn't you like to give him a proper burial? Don't you feel entitled to get some closure if you can't even get some answers?" Yuki asked grasping Tsunade by the shoulders and shaking her firmly. Tsunade resisted the urge to slap the woman's hands off her and hurl her headfirst through a nearby window. Instead she managed a patient smile as she met her eyes.

"I do but not like this." She replied quietly. "I'm not stupid, I know what can happen to people like us who stir things up that ought to be left alone."

"So that's it then?" Yuki said releasing her with a disgusted grunt. "Just like that—you're giving up?"

"Afraid so." Tsunade paused to extend her hand with a polite smile. "Although I am glad to have met you." Yuki stared coldly at the offending appendage until the Senju heiress slowly but surely returned it to her side with a nervous smile. The widow spun on her heels and marched away without sparing a backwards glance.

Tsunade knew that she had to be reasonable. She wasn't so far removed from Dan's death to have forgotten the rage and powerlessness Yuki must be feeling. Even though her lover had died in her arms, she couldn't imagine how heart wrenching not being able to bury your loved one's body must have felt. Part of her wanted to call out for Yuki, to run after her and stop her in her tracks. To smile and offer her help much like she had done for Rin. But the rational side of her prevailed once more, needlessly reminding her that she was deep within enemy territory, far beyond the reach of her closest friends and comrades.

Without a moment's hesitation, Tsunade turned away from the restaurant entrance as she quietly retraced her steps back to her hotel room. The steady rhythm of her footsteps allowed her mind to wander back to her conversation with Yuki.

There was no doubt in her mind that the "storage facility" the man had referenced earlier was a cover for Daisuke's laboratory. Normally, the deaths of several ANBU should have had the village on high alert. Had something similar happened in Konoha, Lord Hokage would have declared martial law recalling all shinobi abroad and imposing a curfew while he and his best officers assessed and exhausted all diplomatic alternatives to war.

 _The sentinels at the gate hadn't even bothered to question each member of the caravan let alone search them._ She bit her lower lip with a concerned frown. _And judging by how calm everyone seems tonight I can only assume that the Kazekage actually believes that a rockslide was in fact responsible for the lab's destruction._

While keeping the lab's true purposes secret made sense to her, she wondered why the Kazekage had abruptly halted all digging and excavation of the site. Surely recovering the fallen shinobis' bodies and confirming their theory took precedence after such an unfortunate disaster. Unless of course the Kazekage was nervous about evidence being unearthed by the excavation.

Although she had no concrete proof to back it up, there was no doubt in her mind that Sasori and Daisuke were in cahoots to cover up the lab explosion for some reason. Given this so-called Sasori's proximity to the Kazekage, it wouldn't be a difficult leap for him to influence his decision to halt all investigations and excavations of the site.

 _But why? Why on earth would the Kazekage go along with it? If his relationship with this Sasori individual was as strained as Yuki claims then how could he be able to influence…_

Her hazel eyes widened suddenly as a harrowing realization finally dawned on her. At first she merely bit her lower lip, muffling the dry chuckle in her throat as she slowly but surely shook her head.

 _The Kazekage knows about Konoha's involvement._ It was the only way any of this made any sense. Obviously he knew about the lab's true purpose and would have been understandably suspicious when it was destroyed. The moment his suspicions were confirmed by evidence of foul play he must have suspended the excavation and turned it over to Sasori.

The less people who knew about an operation the safer the operation would be from sabotage. The fact that the Kazekage had excluded almost every other shinobi in his village meant that he was paranoid of leaks even more so than seemed normal. From what little she had read and seen about the Kazekage he was a cautious man who played things extremely close to the chest. That being said, something about his paranoia seemed strangely justified.

 _There must have been leaks in the past._ She reasoned. By now she was already within her room, her kimono hung loosely around her shoulders as she paced back and forth lost in thought. _More so than usual to make the Kazekage exceptionally careful with sensitive information. Come to think of it, how did sensei know about the laboratory and its exact location?_

While the answer was obvious, she found parsing through the clues one by one helpful. The mole must have been someone within the Kazekage's inner circle—an extremely exclusive group of powerful individuals within Sunagakure. Which explained the quality of the information.

 _But in that case why would one of Suna's elite betray the village?_ She reached up to untie her bun before rubbing her hands roughly through her locks with a frustrated groan.

 _Focus Tsunade_. _Slowly work out the problem._

Daisuke knew of Konoha's involvement in the lab's destruction. Given how resourceful he had proven himself thus far, it wasn't hard to imagine him devising a myriad of ways to convey that information to the Kazekage. Assuming the Kazekage was aware of this, his decision to sit on the information was puzzling. As things stood, he had more than enough justification to declare war on Konohagakure for its flagrant act of aggression. And yet all remained eerily still. Why?

" _ **Minato's like a son to me."**_ **Jiraiya had stated with a fond chuckle.** _ **"I've practically raised him and taught him everything I know. That being said, he is a hundred times the shinobi I could ever hope to be. While I'm gullible and distracted, he is cautious and focused to the point of obsession. While I'm brash and instinctive, he is reserved and calculated. Watching him fight is…oh it's quite the treat. Every movement, every decision all builds into his desired result be it victory or retreat. Nothing he does is ever wasted. There's always a reason behind his actions."**_

" _ **Assuming that his chakra was actually sealed all this time."**_ **Orochimaru had countered back then at his hideout with a skeptical laugh.** _ **"Minato-kun is a master strategist—he never does anything without reason."**_

" _ **It overcomes the subject's willpower preventing them from divulging sensitive information to enemy forces no matter what type of interrogation techniques they are subjected to."**_ **Kakashi had explained calmly.** _ **"It's the ultimate defense against intelligence extraction. It's the jutsu sensei invented to pass his Jounin Exam six years ago."**_

 _Focus Tsunade. Start from the beginning. What does it all mean?_

She remembered the first time she came upon Minato's nude form dangling from a pair of ceiling shackles in a musty dungeon near the outskirts of the Land of Wind, blue eyes wide and hopeful as he implored her to assist him. Back then, she had been prepared to walk away unmoved by his entreaties until he had invoked her proudest achievement to date—devising an antidote to Hanzo's poison.

At the hotel that fateful evening when they were attacked by the pair of Suna nins, he had been prepared to use Daisuke as bait to lure them out.

 _Had he known then that Daisuke was going to betray us? He must have._ Why else would he willingly sacrifice their most valuable clue to deciphering Chiyo's toxin? _What happened after the fight? Blood! Lots of blood! Focus Tsunade! Work out the problem._

Minato and Daisuke had disappeared briefly to get some food before returning with Lord Fugaku and the others. On the way back, he was the first to detect Daisuke's seal and rallied the troops to neutralize her before promptly vanishing with the redhead.

 _Even if Daisuke had threatened Rin's life Minato isn't naïve enough to take him seriously especially since he didn't take a hostage. So why would Minato place a seal on himself before following him?_ The only way that made sense was if Minato had wanted Daisuke to bring him back to Sunagakure much like how he had wanted us to bring him to Konoha.

 _Why would Daisuke or whoever's pulling the strings bring Minato back to Sunagakure alive? The only reason to preserve an enemy is if you intend to extract information from them. In Daisuke's case it was more blood and plasma to examine the toxin. In Minato's case it's…._

Suddenly it all made sense. Every contradictory word, every baffling action. It all began to make sense as the clues all fell into place. One by one.

 _The laboratory was a rouse. Disinformation the Kazekage had fed his inner circle to flush out the mole among them. The information must have been conveyed to a smaller group of people—small enough to narrow down the list of suspects but not enough to single out the culprit. The mole promptly passed the information along to sensei who immediately dispatched Minato to take care of the situation. Daisuke must have been a failsafe put in place to discover the identity of the mole should the guards be unable to subdue or capture the attacker._

 _Once Minato successfully stormed the lab, Daisuke slipped into his disguise catching Rin and Minato off guard. Their guards remained completely down until a few days later when the Suna shinobi attacked them at the hotel. That must have been when Minato began to suspect Daisuke and Daisuke had planted his puppet master seal on me as a contingency._

 _When Daisuke realized that he would not be accompanying us to Konoha, he must have panicked and activated my puppet seal to break free. Somehow somewhere Daisuke must have realized that Minato either knew or had figured out the mole's identity. So why would Minato risk revealing the mole's identity by following Daisuke back to Suna?_

The question lingered in the back of her mind forcing her in and out of fitful bouts of sleep as her subconscious struggled to make sense of Minato's last act until finally the answer roused her from her slumber like a shot of lightening directly through her veins.

 _The mole. He's trying to warn the mole!_

* * *

 **Author's Note: Kept nodding off proof-reading this chapter. I let it run a little longer than normal to make up for the last chapter being so short. Thanks for reading, following, favoriting and reviewing this story. See you all next week.**


End file.
